Why is DTC Genetic Testing Booming Despite a Lack of Privacy Protections?

DNA
Thursday, June 21, 2018

An article published in Slate as part of their Future Tense project provides a valuable overview of the current state of privacy protections ​for those who use direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic tests: "There’s a basic asymmetry at work in genetic testing: It takes just a few minutes to put some spit into a vial, sign a few disclosure forms, and pop your saliva in the mail. But that little bit of spit can yield volumes of deeply intimate data about your body. As Undark Magazine has reported in the past, that information can last for decades. It can be subpoenaed in court. It can be stolen. And it can be bundled and sold as a commodity. . . . Unlike genetic data collected in a hospital, the information that direct-to-consumer tests gather about you is not subject to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or HIPAA, which places restrictions on how health care providers can share information about patients. State laws offer some regulations, but they vary widely from state to state." DTC genetic tests are among the topics being studied as part of the LawSeqSM project, for which Consortium chair Susan M. Wolf is one of the PIs; Barbara J. Evans (University of Houston Law Center), a member of the LawSeqSM working group, is quoted in the article. Learn more about the project here.