A genetic “Minority Report”: How corporate DNA testing could put us at risk
        
            By Benjamin Winterhalter, 
                Salon
             | 01. 26. 2014
        
                    
                                    
                    
                                                                                                                                    
                                                                            
                              
    
  
  
    
  
          
  
      
    
            On Nov. 22, 2013, the FDA sent a now-infamous letter to the genetic 
research startup 23andMe, ordering the company to stop marketing some of
 its personal DNA testing kits. In its letter, the agency told 23andMe 
that it was concerned about the possibility of erroneous test results, 
about false positives and false negatives. The FDA warned that false 
positives – for example, being told that one has a high risk of breast 
cancer when really one doesn’t – might lead customers to seek expensive 
testing or medical treatment that they don’t really need. False 
negatives – which are just the opposite – might lead customers to ignore
 serious health problems or deviate from a prescribed treatment regime. 
The company had been out of contact with the FDA since May of 2013, and 
had not filed the required information to allay the bureau’s concerns.
 
  When
 word about the letter got out, the ever-ready machine of Internet 
journalism whirred quickly to life. Defenders of the genetic research 
firm argued that the information, if used properly and with a 
physician’s supervision, is not only...
 
       
 
  
 
    
    
  
   
                        
                                                                                
                 
                                                    
                            
                                  
    
  
  
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