Big Pharma bought 23andme

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Plumster
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Big Pharma bought 23andme

Post by Plumster »

It appears that GlaxoSmithKline bought 23andme. American citizens may want to consider downloading and deleting their account. I don't know more than what is stated in this article:
https://returntonow.net/2019/01/09/big- ... hmtTUpVPDw
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NF52
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Re: Big Pharma bought 23andme

Post by NF52 »

Plumster wrote:It appears that GlaxoSmithKline bought 23andme. American citizens may want to consider downloading and deleting their account. I don't know more than what is stated in this article:
https://returntonow.net/2019/01/09/big- ... hmtTUpVPDw
Thanks for sharing this Plumster,

This is going to be a decision each of us has to make. It does appear that only those users who have agreed to have data shared with researchers (about 80% of users, according to 23&me) will have data shared with GSK. More importantly, both companies affirm (and presumably are legally liable to this promise) to use only aggregate (pooled) and de-identified data. Here's a quote from their July 2018 press release:
https://www.gsk.com/en-gb/media/press-r ... medicines/
23andMe customers are in control of their data. Participating in 23andMe’s research is always voluntary and requires customers to affirmatively consent to participate. For those who do consent, their information will be de-identified, so no individual will be identifiable to GSK.

The continued protection of customers’ data and privacy is the highest priority for both GSK and 23andMe. Both companies have stringent security protections in place when it comes to collecting, storing and transferring information about research participants. 23andMe employs software, hardware and physical security measures to protect the computers where data is stored and information will only be transferred using encryption to offer maximum security.
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Re: Big Pharma bought 23andme

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Not too thrilled about evil :twisted: Big Pharma getting control of our private data
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Re: Big Pharma bought 23andme

Post by MarcR »

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Re: Big Pharma bought 23andme

Post by CoachDD »

Greetings - jumping in on this subject. . . especially since it is not new news - this happened a while back. While I have BIG concerns about this, I am now suggesting to anyone wanting to research and understand their genetics to still use 23andme for this, but simply create a pseudo name and unique email (without your name in it) exclusively for this situation. Obviously, you'll need to manage/monitor that new email account and guard it from other sources but this will allow folks to remain anonymous. I welcome other thoughts on this - but this is the best way I can think of to avoid the possibility of future issues with your genetic data.
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Re: Big Pharma bought 23andme

Post by thjj »

CoachDD wrote:Greetings - jumping in on this subject. . . especially since it is not new news - this happened a while back. While I have BIG concerns about this, I am now suggesting to anyone wanting to research and understand their genetics to still use 23andme for this, but simply create a pseudo name and unique email (without your name in it) exclusively for this situation. Obviously, you'll need to manage/monitor that new email account and guard it from other sources but this will allow folks to remain anonymous. I welcome other thoughts on this - but this is the best way I can think of to avoid the possibility of future issues with your genetic data.
What a great idea, Coach. I wish I did this last year when I ordered. I had automatically thought that since we're submitting our genetic data, that we're supposed to give them our real names, etc. You're right, who says they need our real name for out genetic data? I even had annoying relatives pop up on my ancestry network :lol:
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Re: Big Pharma bought 23andme

Post by CoachDD »

Thjj - I have the same wish. . . should've thought of this much earlier when I purchased my own kit. It'll be interesting to see if this truly is an issue or if there are concerns with doing this. My sister is in the process of setting up a fake account and my son already did it too. I assume there are some that can be "found out" with a little detective work. :)
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