DNA tests: Who is getting rich with the data from our genes? | DW Documentary
Where do your ancestors come from? Who do you look like? Will you stay healthy? Today, it seems that all these questions can be answered with the help of a personal DNA analysis. However, the commercialization of our genetic data is looming.
Anyone can get an initial interpretation of their genes on the Internet for a few hundred Euros. Scientific progress has given us access to our DNA and opened up endless possibilities for the researchers who can decode it at an affordable price.
Companies such as Ancestry, 23&Me and MyHeritage – start-ups that have become giants – are sharing the very lucrative pie of DNA testing kits that are available to the general public. However, behind the clever marketing language – which claims to help with things like discovering our supposed origins, or our susceptibility to this or that disease — lie dubious methods whose scientific validity is questioned by the best-known geneticists.
50 million people worldwide have already had their genes tested, providing private providers with valuable data. The data sets are already being used and monetized by pharmaceutical companies. Critics fear that insurance companies or banks will also access the genetic data of potential customers in the future. One possible scenario: Do you have a genetic predisposition to breast cancer? Then you won’t get health insurance.
One of the market giants, 23&Me, has now filed for bankruptcy. What will happen to their huge, sensitive data sets? Who will they be sold to?
Researchers, lawyers, data protectionists, patient advocates – they are all sounding the alarm, and calling for the market to be regulated.
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Video “DNA tests: Who is getting rich with the data from our genes? | DW Documentary” was uploaded on 09/13/2025 by DW Documentary Youtube channel.