That spit sample you sent to 23andMe last week could be used to develop biological weapons against you. At least that's what Colorado congressman and House Intelligence Committee member Jason Crow thinks...
The lawmaker made his concerns known at the Aspen Security Forum last Friday, where he warned that data from private DNA testing services (Ancestry.com is another big one) could end up in nefarious hands and facilitate biological carnage.
Bioweapons are disease-causing microorganisms or toxins that can be engineered in a lab. What's scary is that - with knowledge of people's genomes - these labs can create compounds that target specific people in specific ways based on their genetics.
Crow didn’t offer much evidence of an impending threat, but his concerns are being viewed by the scientific community as fairly legitimate. Especially because DNA testing services do currently sell customers' genetic info to third parties.
Companies like 23andMe claim to never sell data without consent, but consent must be opted into and the opt-in is easy to miss in Terms-of-Use agreements.
Bottom line: Crow urged Americans to steer clear of these DNA testing services (and we kiinnddaa agree).
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