FDA Bans 23andme Personal Genetic Tests
By BBC,
BBC News [Quotes CGS's Marcy Darnovsky]
| 11. 26. 2013
Google-backed 23andme has been ordered to "immediately discontinue" selling its saliva-collection tests after failing to provide information to back its marketing claims.
The tests aims to show how personal genetic codes may affect future health.
The company said it would address concerns.
The start-up has been operating since 2006 and was co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, the wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.
For $99 (£61), users receive a kit allowing them to take sample of saliva. This is sent to the company and in return users receive a readout of their genetic code.
The website promises reports on 254 health conditions and traits as well as offering to help people trace their genealogy.
Under FDA rules, the company must provide proof about how accurate its detection methods are as well as supplying the error rates from its personal genome service (PGS).
In a public letter the FDA said that 23andme had not supplied this information, despite increasing its marketing campaign and the scope of its tests.
"FDA is concerned about the public health consequences of inaccurate results from the PGS...
Related Articles
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...
By Vardit Ravitsky, The Hastings Center | 12.04.2025
Embryo testing is advancing fast—but how far is too far? How and where do we draw the line between preventing disease and selecting for “desirable” traits? What are the ethical implications for parents, children, clinicians, and society at large? These...
