Why SB482 is bust. I am amazed by smart people.

If any of you were on the receiving end of my email blast, bear with me. I have a few points to make this morning. A coupla weeks ago, June 24th to be precise.......23andSergey reposted a tweet which really got my attention......


The original tweet was "@23andMe BTW, you saved me $25 for a CF test - used my and spouse's 23 results instead. Thx!"

The user is a really super smart CEO of a company.

After Daniel MacArthur and I protested, 23andSergey pulled down the post........Normally not a big deal, but then came a tweet for me which really had me even further convinced of some issues with DTC

"@hh Really, how so? Our fertility doc says "either of you been tested as a carrier of CF?", yes, both know status via our @23andme."

Do they really know?

No. Truth be told, the delta508 mutation is not exactly the gold standard for carrier screening.....and what the hell? Carrier screening? Isn't that medicine?

Which brings me right down to it........State Bill 482 in essence says that these DTC genomics companies aren't really doing testing. They are only applying a mathematical algorithm to determine risk...........

Could you please tell me what algorithm is used to say you are or you are not a delta508 carrier in the CFTR gene?

Here's another question.

What algorithm are you using to tell people whether or not they have Ashkenazi Jewish Founder Mutations in BRCA genes?

The answer is, they are speaking out of both sides of their mouth. These companies are intellectually dishonest and are looking to pull a fast one here.......and their lack of care for customer or patient safety and health is amazing.

When they pulled that CF retweet, did they post a tweet which says "23andSergey services are not to be used for medicine, and carrier screening is part of medicine"
The short answer.

No.

The long answer, why turn away a customer base who is inferring that it can be used?

I was quoted at the bottom of a San Jose Mercury News article the other day I am an Internist BTW.......

But my point is this, in the world of scandal in politics and lack of transparency, shouldn't we be asking why a company who wants to do this research revolution but won't have an IRB, a company who wants to "Be regulated" buyt by their own rules, a company who has deep ties to a company whose bailiwick is data mining and archiving, a company who performs medical type tests and infers that they can be used as such (despite the fine print)......shouldn't they be held to some sort of standard here?

Are we in the field of genetics so desperate for attention that we let these companies slide in their own laws and their own rules? Do all ships really rise with the tide? We need to ask ourselves here, is this sort of quick shiftiness and legal manipulation ok for the field of genetics?

What sort of trust does it inspire to know that the laws regulating companies were written by the companies. Less than 10% of all congressmen and senators were ever doctors (for my curious detractors).

Why does the medical field come under fire? Lack of trust. Do we really want another chink in our armour?

Does the entire field of genetics and its amazing discoveries want in its midst a company who is willing to manipulate data, lawmakers and ethics to survive?

What does that say about the field? How desperate are we?

What does accepting them say about us?????