Lawmakers in the US have asked direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies to describe their privacy policies and security measures, Stat News reports.
Representative Dave Loebsack (D-Iowa) and Frank Pallone (D-NJ) sent a letter to four DTC companies: 23andMe, AncestryDNA, Family Tree DNA, and National Geographic, according to Stat News. It notes that the lawmakers, who sit on the Energy and Commerce committee which oversees healthcare and technology-related privacy issues, have become worried about what measures such companies have in place to protect their customers' data.
Genetic testing privacy and security issues have come to the forefront in recent weeks, as reports of law enforcement use of a publicly available data from genetic genealogy website to track the Golden State Killer and a data breach affecting email addresses at MyHeritage came to light.
In their letter, Loebsack and Pallone ask the companies to describe how customers' data is used, storage, and, if asked to do so, deleted as well as to explain what data they collect on customers, who is able to access that information, and how they secure it, Stat News adds.