Advertising As Threat: Will Your Kid Die From Exercise?
AIBioTech has hit a new low in exploitative advertising of direct-to-consumer (DTC) gene tests. They are targeting parents, and they are explicitly playing on fear. Not just fear of losing out on status or achievement, fear that your child might die. This is the start of their press release:
It's a simple home genetic test, but the results it produces can make workouts more effective, children's sports choices more appropriate and trainers' awareness of potential risk factors more precise. It can even save a life.
The basic pitch is that the test enables people to "maximize strength, power, and endurance," and to "identify the length of time an athlete needs to rest after experiencing a concussion, his or her chances for negative results including cardiac risk factors and various other hazards." The CEO is quoted:
"We have found an accurate and affordable way to make these tests available to athletes of all ages so they can maximize their potential while greatly reducing the risk of injury and even death."
Moreover, still from the same release:
The recent sudden deaths of several gifted young athletes compelled the company's decision to bring the product to market at this time.
There is a little more detail (and fear-mongering) on the website from which you can, for now, order the $200 test. The FDA sent the company a warning letter on May 11, requesting a meeting "to discuss whether the test you are promoting requires review by FDA and what information you would need to submit in order for your product to be legally marketed." The meeting took place on May 20, and the company is furiously spinning that it is "working with" the FDA to "keep its Sports X Factor genetic test available to consumers." Basically, the FDA gave them a month to come up with a plan.
Even some advocates of DTC testing who generally oppose restrictions think AIBiotech has gone too far. Razib Kahn, for one, posted in his Discover blog: Don't buy AIBioTech Sports X Factor kit! In comments, "PHDGrl" objected that he was unqualified, people had a right to know and the market will decide. Kahn checked: She works for AIBiotech. So he replied with a new post: AIBioTech Sports X Factor is not worth the money.
More seriously, University of Maryland expert Stephen Roth made a presentation on the subject at the American College of Sports Medicine's annual meeting. He distinguished between the technical accuracy of a genetic profile and the ability to interpret the results, and concluded:
I would not recommend these tests for anyone except adult athletes seeking information for themselves out of curiosity, but I would remind those adults that the science is still shaky.
Previously in Biopolitical Times: