Go 23andMe!
Genetic testing firm 23andMe recently made this announcement: GSK and 23andMe sign agreement to leverage genetic insights for the development of novel medicines.
Since making this announcement, 23andMe has taken considerable heat for sharing data about its customers. Profiting off someone else’s body, threatening privacy, and so on, and so on.
Spoiler: I think it’s great news.
Five years ago my family and I spit into 23andMe’s little vials and sent them in. Why?
First, for fun. Doesn’t everyone want to know how much of their DNA is Neanderthal?
Second, for health insights. 23andMe can provide a LOT of information about what diseases a person has a genetic disposition toward. This info does not come unbidden. For each disease the customer must click a button saying, yes, they’re prepared and they do understand they can’t un-know the facts once they see them.
Third, to promote research. It’s a choice, but opting in allows the data (untraceable to the individual) to be shared with researchers and drug companies.
We waited for a few weeks then got our results.
It really was fun seeing the Neanderthal numbers, as well as where across the world our ancestors have lived. Then most of us ripped through all the diseases to see what mortal threats we might be facing. Most of us, but not all. One of us decided to only look at non-fatal diseases and leave the rest as something best not known.
Our data is out there forever. 23andMe regularly updates our reports as they get more insight on what DNA patterns reveal what. More importantly, they continue use the data to serve humanity.
MY DNA will now be used by GSK to develop better products to treat human diseases. Since they are using MY data, it follows that MY diseases are more likely to be addressed. MY health is more likely to be improved. MY life expectancy is more likely to be extended.
Go for it, 23andMe! Get my data into the hands of people like GSK who can use it to improve life for me and everyone else. Make piles of money, stay excited, and push it even more. What a tremendous return on my investment of money and spit.
One other note. The 23andMe report handed me a tremendous surprise. Family legend had always held that my mother’s mother’s mother, on back forever, was Cherokee. Not so. She was West African, undoubtedly brought to America as a slave. What a wake-up call for this southern white male. Pondering what she (and her daughter and granddaughter…) endured has affected me deeply. She was an inspiration for Two Moons.
