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What happens to your genetic data when you take a commercial DNA ancestry test? – CitiGen
There's a lotta small print attached to those home-kits for DNA sampling, & most folks don't think of privacy concerns or "owning their data" when they buy them, or even when they sign the forms & send in the sample.
This is a problem - even tho the person submitting their sample doesn't know it.
One's DNA is a highly-personal wealth of info, from health conditions to ethnic origin, race, potential health risks [markers for cancer-susceptibility, atherosclerosis, & more], mental health, heritable conditions we can pass to our children, & more.
Our DNA can be valuable to researchers - who can generate profits & patent devices or processes, based on use of our DNA. It can make us more employable, or LESS employable - it can raise our insurance rates; it can make us welcome or unwelcome, depending upon the biases or preferences of the 3rd party who sees yer stuff.
Imagine losing yer job, due to a POTENTIAL health issue that hasn't even manifested yet. How would U feel? Shocked, angry, depressed, outraged? - What would U do?
Or finding that someone patented a segment of your D.N.A., profited from it, & U get nothing - despite what seems to be a pretty-clear infringement of yer ownership?
I mean, nobody else "made" that DNA but Ur parents, & it's undeniably Urs - as it's Ur own tissue-profile, unique to U.
There's a new DNA-profiling company that's raising money from investors, & they will not only protect Ur ownership, they will collect royalties for U if any company uses Ur DNA - in research, in applications, in developing or manufacturing products, whatever.
Basically, they'll act as agents representing their customers' interests.
- terry
.
What happens to your genetic data when you take a commercial DNA ancestry test? – CitiGen
There's a lotta small print attached to those home-kits for DNA sampling, & most folks don't think of privacy concerns or "owning their data" when they buy them, or even when they sign the forms & send in the sample.
This is a problem - even tho the person submitting their sample doesn't know it.
One's DNA is a highly-personal wealth of info, from health conditions to ethnic origin, race, potential health risks [markers for cancer-susceptibility, atherosclerosis, & more], mental health, heritable conditions we can pass to our children, & more.
Our DNA can be valuable to researchers - who can generate profits & patent devices or processes, based on use of our DNA. It can make us more employable, or LESS employable - it can raise our insurance rates; it can make us welcome or unwelcome, depending upon the biases or preferences of the 3rd party who sees yer stuff.
Imagine losing yer job, due to a POTENTIAL health issue that hasn't even manifested yet. How would U feel? Shocked, angry, depressed, outraged? - What would U do?
Or finding that someone patented a segment of your D.N.A., profited from it, & U get nothing - despite what seems to be a pretty-clear infringement of yer ownership?
I mean, nobody else "made" that DNA but Ur parents, & it's undeniably Urs - as it's Ur own tissue-profile, unique to U.
There's a new DNA-profiling company that's raising money from investors, & they will not only protect Ur ownership, they will collect royalties for U if any company uses Ur DNA - in research, in applications, in developing or manufacturing products, whatever.
Basically, they'll act as agents representing their customers' interests.
- terry
.
