23andMe Says Ancestral and Genetic Knowledge Can Prevent Death

23andMe co-founder Anne Wojcicki of Google fame. Credit: Makers.com

We’re no strangers to marketing techniques with ambitious promises in America. Every day, we’re seduced by packaging that assures us we’ll be happier, thinner, healthier, etc., if only we buy or consume a company’s service or product. But just how far can a company push its packaging promises? And what gives it the right to say their product will change not just your mood, but your health? 2008 Silicon Valley startup 23andMe is a “privately held personal genomics and biotechnology company” that offers DNA tests to its clients, uncovering ancestral information that it says will “improve lives” by revealing a family’s history of health complications. Today, over 500,000 people have ordered the site’s $99 DNA test package.

“But just how far can a company push its packaging promises? And what gives it the right to say their product will not just change your mood, but your health?”

Credit: venturebeat.com

But the FDA, as well as many medical professionals, are hesitant to jump on board with 23andMe. Although the company is famously backed by the likes of Google’s Ann Wojcicki, federal regulators fear it’s taking too many liberties with its claims – and on November 25th, they issued an enforcement action against the company.

The FDA is concerned that clients may depend too much on 23andMe’s results in their medical decision making, without consulting medical professionals after receiving their ancestral health history. Many in the medical community are in agreement that packages like “The Saliva Collection Kit” or the “Personal Genome Service” ought to require FDA approval; an anonymous Bay Area neurologist told Venture Beat that “some of her healthiest patients — all 23andMe customers — have begun demanding unnecessary and expensive MRI tests for Alzheimer’s disease,” and that “23andMe’s test is [also] creating chaos with people in their 20s and 30s.”

The company recently lowered the price of its packages, making it more accessible to consumers – maybe even an impulse buy — at just under $100 for services that can cost thousands more. On one hand, offering more accessibility to knowledge of our health is a wonderful innovation. But the worry of the FDA – as well as the aforementioned neurologist – is that 23andMe will just “generate havoc and walk away.”

Do you think 23andMe should be regulated? Would you ever use their services? We look forward to your comments below.

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