Genetic testing evolves, along with health and ethics debates
By Michael Hiltzik,
Los Angeles Times
| 10. 30. 2015
Untitled Document
When last we visited with the genetic testing firm 23andMe, it was in big trouble.
That was in December 2013. The Food and Drug Administration had just ruled that the company had been breaking the law in marketing its Personal Genome Service. For $99, customers spit into a tube, mailed it to 23andMe and got back a report on their carrier status or susceptibility to breast cancer, heart disease and some 250 other diseases or conditions, based on genetic information extracted from their saliva.
The FDA described the service as an unlicensed medical device and ordered it off the market. Its warning letter implied that the Mountain View, Calif., company hadn't been straight with regulators and was ignoring demands for data proving its service was accurate. Experts in the genetics testing field wondered whether the tests — and the company itself — were ready for prime time.
As of mid-October, 23andMe is back in the direct-to-consumer genetic testing business. (The firm's name refers to the 23 chromosome pairs in the human genome.) It's selling a different product, one...
Related Articles
A Review of Exposed by Becky McClain
“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
— John Lewis
Becky McClain became famous when she successfully sued Pfizer, one of the very largest pharmaceutical and biotech companies. She...
By Katherine Long, Ben Foldy, and Lingling Wei, The Wall Street Journal | 12.13.2025
Inside a closed Los Angeles courtroom, something wasn’t right.
Clerks working for family court Judge Amy Pellman were reviewing routine surrogacy petitions when they spotted an unusual pattern: the same name, again and again.
A Chinese billionaire was seeking parental...
By Sarah Kliff, The New York Times | 12.10.2025
Micah Nerio had known since his early 30s that he wanted to be a father, even if he did not have a partner. He spent a decade saving up to pursue surrogacy, an expensive process where he would create embryos...
By Carter Sherman, The Guardian | 12.08.2025
A huge defense policy bill, revealed by US lawmakers on Sunday, does not include a provision that would have provided broad healthcare coverage for in vitro fertilization (IVF) for active-duty members of the military, despite Donald Trump’s pledge...
