Some 12 million people have had their genes analyzed by genetic genealogy testing companies, and about half of those people sought that analysis last year, according to Technology Review. It notes that Ancestry.com recently announced it has analyzed samples from more than 7 million people and that 2 million of those tests were run toward the end of 2017, and Tech Review adds that this boom in testing could be due to companies' increased advertising, as Ancestry spent $109 million on ads in 2016 and likely more in 2017.
All in all, Tech Review says this comes about to about 1 in 25 adults in the US having access to some of their genetic data, as companies like Ancestry and 23andMe enable customers to download their data files. People's access to their data, it says, could spur a new market in which other companies take that information and re-analyze it.
"There are a lot of companies saying 'Send me your data and I'll give you some other information,'" David Mittelman, the cofounder of DNAGeeks, tells Tech Review. It adds that there are, for instance, companies that say they can determine people's health risks or what diet might be best for them based on their genotyping data.