Government Cracks Down on Fake DNA-Based Medicine

Any medical advance always brings along con men hoping to exploit the news with useless or even dangerous "medicine" of their own that they can lie about to sell to people who don't yet know how to spot fakes. Personalized medicine, treatment that uses genetic information to improve people's health, has now reached the point where companies eager to cheat people excited by its promise are sprouting up. The Federal Trade Commission has taken the first steps to quashing these 21st century snake-oil salesmen in a settlement finalized Tuesday with two "personalized nutritional supplement" companies.

Genomics and personalized medicine  has the potential to help countless people by diagnosing cancer earlier, treating genetic diseases and even restoring organs and tissue. It's still early days for the field and the FDA and FTC are watching closely as techniques and products are developed. GeneLink, Inc. and its former subsidiary,  foruTMInternational Corp., were also watching, and created an entire scam around the idea of personalized medicine. Customers would send them a cheek swab and the companies claimed they would analyze the DNA and...