DNA Testing? You Might Want to Wait for More Legal Protection

The fast-growing consumer genetic testing industry is expected to be worth $45 billion by 2024, but existing laws may not be up to the job of protecting the privacy of that information.

Currently, an uneven patchwork of laws exists to protect the privacy of genetic information. But that hasn’t dissuaded individuals from purchasing DNA testing kits from companies like 23andMe and Ancestry.com, often to learn more about their family trees.

Meanwhile, genetic testing companies have been marketing access to the aggregated pooled, de-identified genetic information, which is being mined by multiple users including biopharmaceutical companies seeking disease cures. For example, ...