Why Genetic Self-Test Kits Should Not Be Allowed Into Canada
By Abby Lippman,
The Globe and Mail
| 10. 16. 2014
For $199, Canadians will soon be able to buy the latest genetic play kit – and will be able to do so without any serious regulation by Health Canada with regard to its uses or usefulness. Nor will there be any oversight for identifying its potential harms.
23andMe Inc. has been vigorously marketing its DNA testing kit for about eight years in the United States. And apparently 20,000 Canadians have been sufficiently convinced of this commercial DIY-approach to learning about genetic risk factors they may be said to have, as well as about their possible genetic ancestry, that they have laid out the funds needed to import the product to use at home.
Even if one ignores some very important issues – such as just what DNA patterns can predict about the likelihood of developing any of the diseases for which risk factor screening is done (basically, little if anything); how using the 23andMe tests to determine health risks is currently prohibited by the FDA in the U.S.; and the potential for obtaining disrupting, disturbing, or even destructive information about...
Related Articles
By Annika Inampudi, Science | 08.01.2025
In June, Sara* received a message asking whether she wanted to continue to participate in a massive, multicenter research project led by scientists at Aarhus University in Denmark. The iPsych study, the message said, had sequenced her genetic data from...
The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
CGS works to ensure that social justice, equity, human rights, and democratic governance are front...
By Harry Hunter, PET BioNews | 08.11.2025
The Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology has announced plans to publish a POSTnote and called for submissions on surrogacy law in the UK and internationally.
The current UK surrogacy laws, largely based on legislation from the 1980s, have been...
By Molly Gray, Nuffield Council on Bioethics | 08.13.2025
Human embryo at about 8 weeks
by Anatomist90, CC3.0
With debate growing around whether the “14-day rule” on human embryo research remains fit for purpose, the need for inclusive public dialogue is more important than ever. Decisions about whether...
