Opinion December 17, 2013- By Steven E. Greer, MD
The Wall Street Journal published an article explaining how the pharmaceutical industry data mines credit card records, Internet traffic patterns, and other personal data on individuals, then forms educated guesses about the diseases those people might have. Locating actual people with specific diseases is valuable for companies that recruit patients into clinical trials, and also for drug companies trying to sell products via Direct-To-Consumer advertising.
What if there were a much better way to not only know exactly the diseases a person has, but also what diseases they are likely to develop? There is, and it is found in one’s human genome, or their DNA.
The Holy Grail for marketing companies and the healthcare industry would be to know the DNA of people. Of course, that information is strictly confidential and it would be illegal to snoop and collect DNA from people, unless people are tricked into giving it away with contractual consent.
23andMe, a small company that sells genetic screening kits based on saliva samples, recently got into trouble for illegally marketing genetic screening tests that were not validated and approved by the FDA. The company has since stopped marketing the tests.
A few news reports did mention that 23andMe is a Google-backed genetic testing company, run by the ex-wife of Google Founder Sergey Brin. But Google has far more ambitious plans than just 23andMe. Continue reading →
