Aggregated News
In the name of journalism, I have spit into a lot of test tubes.
I’ve sent samples of my saliva to Ancestry and 23andMe Inc. to find out about my heritage; mailed my spit to Helix for insight into my athletic ability, diet and sleep patterns; and uploaded my DNA to the website of a startup that said it could craft a skin care routine genetically optimized to give me perfect skin.
Overall, I’ve shared my genetic information with nearly a dozen companies. You might call me an oversharer.
I’m not alone. The direct-to-consumer genetic-testing industry has grown from some $15 million in sales in 2010 to more than $99 million in 2017, and is projected to reach $310 million by 2022, according to one industry estimate.
Your genetic code includes details about not only your own health and family, but also similarly intimate information about your relatives. When police recently used a genetic genealogy website to find a suspect in the case of the Golden State Killer, it illuminated the unexpected ways that your genetic data can be used...