![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.radioiowa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/Prof.-Anya-Prince-UI-photo-e1743172084895.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nProf. Anya Prince (UI photo)<\/p>\n
If it had fallen into the wrong corporate hands, Prince says that genetic data could have been used in ways customers of 23andMe never intended.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere could be worry about that being misused by life insurance companies or other insurance companies, or use by law enforcement \u2014 which some people are uncomfortable with, or purchased by a foreign nation,\u201d Prince says. \u201cThere could be a range of options that really our laws don\u2019t protect against fully.\u201d<\/p>\n
The company\u2019s at-home test kits are easy to use and the reports sent back to customers based on their DNA often provide information about their ancestry and family members. Still, depending on the test, those genetic markers may also reveal predispositions to diseases, which could mean higher premiums, should an insurance company access the data. Also, law enforcement might be able to access your genetic data without a warrant, which could have all sorts of implications.<\/p>\n
Prince has co-authored a paper<\/a> saying the 23andMe bankruptcy and sale exposed critical gaps in consumer privacy protections, and she says new privacy laws are needed, either at the state or federal level, to safeguard genetic data.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen people give their private data, including genetic information, to companies like this, they really are trusting them to be good stewards of their data,\u201d Prince says, \u201cbut right now, our laws don\u2019t require them to be good stewards of the data. It just requires them to tell people what\u2019s going to happen in the privacy policies that we know nobody reads anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n