The Opt Out: 5 reasons to skip at-home genetic testing

Read this before you spit into that tube.

 The Risks and Benefits of 23andMe DNA Analysis

Before you spit into that vial and mail it away, make sure you understand the risks of what you're about to undertake. This devil's bargain is about much more than learning about your genealogy and health traits. It could comprise your ability to get life, disability, or long term care insurance or severely affect the rates you pay for those services. It could also impact your genetic relatives, even though they did not personally undergo testing. 23andMe is not the only direct-to-consumer genetic testing service, but it is the largest company in the market. The company is a for-profit, publicly traded organization with major financial backing from pharmaceutical giants GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, and others. Those multi-billion-dollar drug companies obviously seek your valuable genetic data. When you sign up for the service, you are agreeing to sell 23andMe your genetic information so that they can re-sell that biological data to others. In addition to the ancestry benefits that 23andMe touts, consumers of DNA testing should understand possible medical, legal, and personal risks of getting such testing.

Can Commercial DNA Analysis Create a Healthier You?

With DNA analysis making its way into the commercial realm, it was inevitable that the health industry would get in on the action. But how good is that for the consumer?

Online Gene Testing – To a Healthier Life, Maybe

Genetic testing is emerging as a new trend in personal healthcare, where people can order the test online, know about their propensity for various diseases, and prepare for disease prevention. Then, again, maybe you don't want to know!

There’s No Guarantee That Genetic Tests Are Accurate

Even those administered by doctors lack FDA oversight

When Your Ancestry Test Entangles Others

Today’s DNA kits can reveal secrets that affect not just your own family but strangers as well. Should one person’s right to know take precedence over another’s life narrative?

Ancestry genetic tests are making it extremely easy for cops to track all white people

According to a new study, it’s not all that difficult to find someone in the U.S. — even if they've never taken a genetic test.

Are Genetic Testing Sites the New Social Networks?

Like Facebook, but for fifth cousins, adoptive mothers and sperm-donor dads.

Can Genetic Counselors Keep Up With 23andMe?

The rise of spit kits is leaving consumers with lots of data and few answers. Genetic counselors could help people understand these results, but there aren’t enough of them to go around.

Color Genomics Wants To 'Democratize' Your DNA

The new test covers 30 genes, adding melanoma and stomach cancer to the list as well as greatly expanding Color's ability to test risk for pancreatic, prostate and colorectal cancers. "One of the impacts of putting this test on the market is that beyond just the cost difference, I think one of our biggest effects is reducing a lot of the friction and barriers that prevent people from getting tested historically," says Laraki.

Consumer genetic testing customers stretch their DNA data further with third-party interpretation websites

Genetic professionals and especially genetic counselors who are on the frontlines, seeing patients with their third-party reports, have well-founded concerns about the quality and reliability of results from DTC testing companies and third-party tools alike. This unease is likely exacerbated by the variability in scientific approaches and privacy and security practices across third-party tools.

Don't Take the DNA Test You'll Probably Get for Christmas

On the face of it, these tests seem like the perfect stocking stuffer. They’re pegged as a novel, exciting experience, one that might even bring a family closer together by revealing their shared genetic past. But in this humble writer’s opinion, consumer DNA kits are one of the last presents you want to unwrap on Christmas morning. Why? Because they can still be laughingly imprecise, are barely regulated, and most worryingly of all, could expose your identity to people you’d rather not know anything about you.

How Do You Know When a DNA Test Is B.S.?

A company called Helix wants to sort through the pseudoscience in DNA tests, but it has its critics, too.

How To Sign Away The Rights to Your DNA

DNA-testing kit company 23andMe, announced a new partnership with drug giant GlaxoSmithKline (GSK). GSK gets exclusive access to 23andMe’s troves of customer data — which it plans to use to develop a whole host of new drugs — and 23andMe gets a $300 million dollar investment. The company was quick to clarify that 23andMe customers had the option to opt-in or out of sharing their genetic information for research purposes, stating that “As always, customers choose whether or not to participate in research.

Illumina, the Google of Genetic Testing, Has Plans for World Domination

YOU COULD SAY that Illumina is to DNA sequencing is what Google is to Internet search, but that would be underselling the San Diego-based biotech company. Illumina’s machines, the best and cheapest on the market, generate 90 percent of all DNA sequence data today. Illumina is, as they say, crushing it.

Personal Genetic Testing Is Here. Do We Need It?

Experts say many people are using a growing stream of genetic data to help them make better health decisions. But they also warn that some consumers may be led astray by genetic findings that are overblown or irrelevant.

The Results of Your Genetic Test Are Reassuring. But That Can Change

Laboratories frequently “reclassify” genetic mutations. But there is no reliable system for telling patients or doctors that the results of their genetic tests are no longer valid.

The Rise Of Genetic Testing Companies And DNA Data Race

With the rise of direct to consumer (DTC) genetic testing companies, and an explosion of genomic data emerging from individual DNA...

The Uncertain Future of Genetic Testing

Bringing genetics into medicine leads to more accuracy, better diagnosis, and personalized treatment—but for some, gene testing has only resulted in unanswered questions.

These Companies Want You to Sell Your DNA on the Internet

Human DNA has become a valuable research commodity, as drug companies, academic researchers, and governments all mine DNA databases in their search for new treatments and health innovations.

Want a diet plan? All this start-up needs is your money, blood and DNA

Diets have typically been one size fits all. Now we have science that can get us to a place where we can recommend a personalized eating system. — Denise Morrison, chief executive of Campbell Soup Co., Habit's sole financier.

We Don’t Want to Know What Will Kill Us

Years of data on genetic testing reveal that when given the option, most people want less information, not more.

What can genetic testing really tell you?

For now, just enjoy your life, because you can’t predict death. And if you decide to unlock the secrets of your DNA with an at-home test, don't take those results for more than their worth.

What Rare Disorder Is Hiding in Your DNA?

As comprehensive genetic tests become more widespread, patients and experts mull how to deal with unexpected findings.

What you can learn from controversial DIY gene tests

After being warned by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) in 2013 to “immediately discontinue” their services, 23andMe is back in business. Curious consumers can once again ship off a saliva sample to the Google-backed company to learn about the secrets encoded in their genes. But what can you really learn about yourself from these tests? And do you even want to know?

Why Consumers Should Think Twice Before Getting Genetic Tests

The first report from a big public-private project to improve genetic testing reveals it is not as rock solid as many people believe, with flaws that result in some people wrongly advised to worry about a disease risk and others wrongly told they can relax. Researchers say the study shows the need for consumers to be careful about choosing where to have a gene test done and acting on the results, such as having or forgoing a preventive surgery.

Why Knowing Your Genetic Data Can Be a Tricky Proposition

As genome testing expands, people are dealing with the new information in positive and negative ways.

How to Get and Protect Your Genetic Data

Though consumer genetic testing and personal genome sequencing are still nascent fields, every indication suggests that the public will have a virtually insatiable appetite for genetic data. And as scientists get better at establishing links between DNA and diseases or specific traits, that demand will only increase. But are we ready for this data?

Why DNA tests are suddenly unpopular

As more and more people took consumer DNA tests, a number of privacy concerns bubbled up, including how outside companies, law enforcement, and even foreign governments might try to use that data. In one high-profile case, police used DNA test info from third and fourth cousins, uploaded to a third-party site, to track down the Golden State Killer, highlighting that you’re not necessarily just revealing your own DNA when you take ones of these tests.

At-home DNA test kits can tell you many things. Race shouldn't be one of them

DNA test kits like the ones created by 23andMe and Ancestry.com do not emphasize the 99.9% of the human genome that is the same across humans. Instead, they focus on the 0.1% variation among humans. The tests give users results based on large geographic locations, known as continental ancestry. But as Fuentes points out, "Africa, Asia and Europe are not biological units, right? They're not even single geobiological patterns or areas or habitats or ecologies ... They are geopolitical. We named them."

At-Home DNA Testing, Placed Under A Microscope

At-home DNA tests are becoming a popular holiday gift over the holidays. A recent survey by MIT found that 100 million Americans are on track to take one by the end of the next year. This trend offers private companies the world's largest collection of human DNA. But what are they doing with it? Can you get a health and ancestry test while also protecting your privacy?

Big Pharma Would Like Your DNA

23andMe’s $300 million deal with GlaxoSmithKline is just the tip of the iceberg.

FDA Approves Marketing Of Consumer Genetic Tests For Some Conditions

The tests assess genetic risk for the conditions but don't diagnose them, the FDA says. The agency urges consumers to use their results to "help to make decisions about lifestyle choices or to inform discussions with a health care professional," according to a press release about the decision.

Genetic testing is an inexact science with real consequences

How flawed genetic testing could be used for more than screwing up your race.

Home genealogy kit sales plummet over data privacy concerns

Two third-party uses of genetic genealogy have given consumers pause for thought. One: Almost every database shares information with the pharmaceutical industry. 23andMe was clear from the beginning that its health information would be used by its research partners and asked consumers to consent. But when it started to sign major deals with drug developers in 2015, consumers began to realize that, once again, similar to social sharing platforms, they were the product. A fact not so surprising from a company whose initial investors were from Google and Facebook.

Many of us are taking genetic tests, but how much are we really learning?

Sixteen years ago, scientists sequenced almost all the human genome. Today, there are 32 companies that will read your DNA like tea leaves. How much can they really tell us?

New Genomic Tests Aim to Diagnose Deadly Infections Faster

Rapid genomic tests are poised to change the way doctors diagnose and treat infections, but their cost may limit widespread use.

Personal DNA tests might help research – but they put your data at risk

So sharing your genetic information could expose you to potential discrimination if it ends up with the wrong people or is used for the wrong purposes. Being offered different health insurance coverage and at different prices is the most obvious risk. But depending on who buys the data, pharmaceutical companies, employers and even government authorities could access your DNA and make decisions based on it.

Results Of At-Home Genetic Tests For Health Can Be Hard To Interpret

"Direct-to-consumer genetics companies are leading the way toward democratizing genetics and making it available to more and more people to learn about their risks and intervene in ways to keep themselves healthy," says Robert Green, a medical geneticist at Harvard. But other genetic specialists, including James Evans, a professor of genetics and medicine at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, argue genetic testing is still in its infancy and that the results are often inconclusive and confusing.

Should you get a home genetic test?

Direct-to-consumer tests may help predict risks to your future health. But are they worth the cost and trouble?

The limits of ancestry DNA tests, explained

23andMe wants to sell you vacations based on your DNA. But what are they really basing that on?

Understanding the Pros and Cons of Genetic Testing

In recent years, the field of genetic testing has risen in both prominence and popularity. Through advances in research, science and medical technology, physicians now offer robust genetic screenings to their patients.

Why DNA tests are suddenly unpopular

23andMe and Ancestry are laying off workers as interest in their DNA tests declines.