Your DNA in the Hands of Big Pharma: The Dark Side of Genetic Testing

https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2023/11/07/dna-tests-are-sold-to-highest-bidder.aspx

Dive into the lucrative contract between GlaxoSmithKline and 23andMe, highlighting the privacy concerns surrounding the exploitation of consumer DNA data. The expanding use of genetic data poses threats, from potential insurance discrimination to data breaches and misuse by pharmaceutical companies.

The Genetic Conspiracy: DNA Tests Are Sold to Highest Bidder

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will pay 23andMe $20 million to extend its five-year contract to mine the company’s consumer DNA data for another year
The drugmaker is searching for hints about genes that might be at the root of disease. 23andMe will get royalties on any drugs developed
23andMe also recently launched a new DNA-sequencing service called Total Health, which sequences your entire exome, the protein-coding part of your genome, which is thought to be responsible for most disease-causing genes. The move is another step in 23andMe’s plan to transform itself into a full-fledged health care company that also treats patients
23andMe acquired a telehealth and drug-delivery startup called Lemonaid Health in 2021. Lemonaid doctors are being trained by 23andMe on how to interpret DNA results and provide tailored health advice
23andMe’s concept of “health care” is all about expanding the use of drugs by getting people on them earlier, before they even have symptoms, based solely on genetic risk factors

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Do you know who has access to your genetic data? If you've used a DNA testing company like 23andMe, chances are your genetic data is in the hands of insurance companies and drug companies. It may also be in the hands of hackers. Either way, your DNA could be used against you.

GlaxoSmithKline Extends Data Mining Contract With 23andMe

As reported by Bloomberg,1 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will pay 23andMe $20 million to extend its five-year contract to mine the company's consumer DNA data for another year:

"The idea for drugmakers is to comb the data for hints about genetic pathways that might be at the root of disease, which could significantly speed up the long, slow process of drug development.

GSK and 23andMe have already taken one potential medication to clinical trials: a cancer drug that works to block CD96, a protein that helps modulate the body's immune responses. It entered that testing phase in four years, compared to an industry average of about seven years. Overall, the partnership between GSK and 23andMe has produced more than 50 new drug targets ...

The new agreement changes some components of the collaboration. Any discoveries GSK makes with the 23andMe data will now be solely owned by the British pharmaceutical giant, while the genetic-testing company will be eligible for royalties on some projects. In the past, the two companies pursued new drug targets jointly."

In case this wasn't obvious, YOU pay to have your DNA tested, and then 23andMe sells the mining rights of those data, and makes royalties on new drugs. Quite the profit model, having customers pay for their own exploitation. And GSK isn't the only drug company mining your data. The deal is nonexclusive, so any number of other companies may be mining your genetic data as well.

23andMe Seeks to Transform Into a Health Care Company

23andMe also recently launched a new DNA-sequencing service called Total Health, which sequences your entire exome, the protein-coding part of your genome, which is thought to be responsible for most disease-causing genes. While their basic DNA test for health and ancestry has a price tag of $229,2 this expanded test will set you back $1,188 — per year.3

The move is another step in 23andMe's plan to transform itself into a full-fledged health care company that also treats patients. With this goal in mind, 23andMe acquired a telehealth and drug-delivery startup called Lemonaid Health in 2021.4 Lemonaid doctors are reportedly being trained by 23andMe on how to interpret DNA results and provide tailored health advice.

According to Bloomberg:5

"Total Health is designed to pinpoint genes 23andMe views as 'actionable' — those that some combination of lifestyle changes and medication can affect.

The list includes the more than 80 genes the American College of Medical Genetics consider actionable, including those for cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease and neurological disorders ...

Someone who finds out they're at risk for early heart disease would want to closely monitor their cholesterol levels and consider going on cholesterol-lowering drugs as soon as those levels become unsafe, said [vice president for genomic health at 23andMe, Noura] Abul-Husn, giving an example of how the information can be used ...

The Total Health package's biannual blood tests give customers a look at more than 50 biomarkers, helping them track progress in managing risks identified by sequencing. Clinicians will provide patients with personalized risk assessments and preventive health plans, along with an annual virtual visit and ongoing messaging ..."

Genetic Predisposition — A Tactic to Increase Drug Sales

This is an excellent example of why Americans are so mired in chronic illness, and why genetic testing, as it currently stands, will do nothing to ameliorate the situation.

If you have genetic risk factors for early heart disease, the last thing you want to do is go on cholesterol-lowering drugs as they destroy heart tissue and act as mitochondrial toxins,6,7 Statins also raise your risk of diabetes and dementia.

Unfortunately, if you do an online search for "statins damage heart" or something similar, the first page or two of results will be articles "debunking" claims that they can harm your heart. This is Big Tech censorship at work, and it's only going to get worse from here. You have to dig deeper into the search results to actually find what you're looking for. Eventually, you may not find it at all.

23andMe's concept of 'health care' is all about expanding the use of drugs by getting people on them earlier, before they even have symptoms, based solely on genetic risk factors.

The point here is that cholesterol has little to do with the development of heart disease, so the entire premise of this kind of "prevention" is flawed from the get-go. Basically, 23andMe's concept of "health care" is all about expanding the use of drugs by getting people on them earlier, before they even have symptoms, based solely on genetic risk factors.

Your Genetic Data Can Be Used Against You in Many Ways

Adding insult to injury, your genetic data may be sold to insurance companies that may then charge you extra for a "preexisting condition" you don't actually have but might potentially develop in the future. Life insurance companies may also charge you more, or decline coverage altogether. As reported in a September 7, 2023, article in The Conversation:8

"In Australia, life insurance companies can legally use the results of genetic tests to discriminate. They can decline to provide life insurance coverage, increase the cost of premiums, or place exclusions on an individual's cover ...

This week, a number of federal parliamentarians argued for a ban on genetic discrimination by life insurance companies ... The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 prohibits discrimination on a number of different bases, including genetic risk factors.

However, there is a specific carve-out in the Act that allows life insurers to discriminate in ways other entities are prohibited from doing. This means companies providing insurance for death, income protection, and disability can discriminate on the basis of genetic risk of disease.

Other companies that provide risk-rated insurance (where insurers assess an individual's risk factors and change coverage or premiums based on this risk) can also use genetic test results to discriminate. This includes travel insurance."

23andMe, the Google of Gene-Based Medicine

As noted in a November 2013 article by Scientific American,9 23andMe poses a unique threat to the public that few ever discuss. While sold as a medical device, its true function is that of a massive information-gathering operation, just like Google turned out to be.

While it took a while, it's now become crystal clear that Google is using all that personal data gathered from users to control and suppress information that doesn't benefit its advertisers. Will 23andMe end up being a repeat of Google's bait and switch? As reported by Scientific American:10

"Although 23andMe admits that it will share aggregate information about users genomes to third parties, it adamantly insists that it will not sell your personal genetic information without your explicit consent. We've heard that one before ...

Even though 23andMe currently asks permission to use your genetic information for scientific research, the company has explicitly stated that its database-sifting scientific work 'does not constitute research on human subjects,' meaning that it is not subject to the rules and regulations that are supposed to protect experimental subjects' privacy and welfare.

Those of us who have not volunteered to be a part of the grand experiment have even less protection. Even if 23andMe keeps your genome confidential against hackers, corporate takeovers, and the temptations of filthy lucre forever and ever, there is plenty of evidence that there is no such thing as an 'anonymous' genome anymore.

It is possible to use the internet to identify the owner of a snippet of genetic information and it is getting easier day by day. While the FDA concentrates on the question of whether 23andMe's kit is a safe and effective medical device, it is failing to address the real issue: what 23andMe should be allowed to do with the data it collects.

For 23andMe's Personal Genome Service is much more than a medical device; it is a one-way portal into a world where corporations have access to the innermost contents of your cells and where insurers and pharmaceutical firms and marketers might know more about your body than you know yourself.

And as 23andMe warns on its website, 'Genetic Information that you share with others could be used against your interests. You should be careful about sharing your Genetic Information with others.' Present company excepted, of course."

For the record, that warning no longer exists on 23andMe's website. In the end, we may well see DNA testing companies like 23andMe share everyone's genetic data with insurance companies, which in turn may force you into pharmaceutical solutions for problems you don't yet have.

The CIA Connection

Interestingly, the connection between Google and 23andMe is closer than you might think. 23andMe cofounder Anne Wojcicki was married to Google founder Sergey Brin for eight years and the couple have two children together. They divorced in 2015.

Wojcicki's sister, Susan Wojcicki, was one of Google's first employees. In 2006, she convinced Google to acquire YouTube and served as YouTube's CEO from 2014 until 2023. She's now an adviser to Google and its parent company Alphabet.11,12

As reported by Quartz magazine, Google came about largely thanks to research grants for mass surveillance technologies from the CIA and NSA.13

Similarly, Wojcicki was finally able to take 23andMe public after raising more than $1 billion in funding from, among others, Google, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Sequoia Capital,14,15 the latter of which is also heavily invested in artificial intelligence and has drawn scrutiny from Washington for having "significant operations" in China that might benefit the Chinese military.16

Google — probably the biggest spy machine ever built — the CIA, NSA, Big Pharma and a Chinese-linked AI investment firm. These are all either directly invested in, or linked to through investments, a company (23andMe) that is harvesting the genetic code from millions of Americans. Does that really sound like a good idea?

You don't need predictive AI to figure out that the beneficiaries of 23andMe's data will be the drug industry and the intelligence agencies that are working to further the transhumanist and technocratic goals and ambitions of the globalist deep state.

Data Breaches Are Inevitable, and Have Already Occurred

Data breaches and hacks are becoming ever more prevalent, and 23andMe is not immune to that threat. In fact, in late October 2023, the company notified customers that a breach into its "DNA relatives" databank had occurred. As reported by Reuters:17

"Genetics testing company 23andMe ... sent emails to several customers to inform them of a breach into the 'DNA Relatives' feature that allowed them to compare ancestry information with users worldwide ...

Since news of the hack, many customers have expressed worries their ethnicity and other sensitive information could be used against them if leaked."

While that might sound paranoid, Thor Benson, in a June 2020 IEEE Spectrum article18 argued that "DNA databases in the U.S. and China are tools of racial oppression," and that "What is initially presented as a public good can easily be used for evil ends."

Your DNA Could Be Used to Pin a Crime on You

Benson's article focuses not on the use of DNA in medicine but rather its use in law enforcement. DNA samples are routinely collected when you're arrested, and that DNA database is then used during other crime investigations.

But DNA samples are also collected from victims of crime, and in late 2021, a California rape victim was charged with an unrelated crime based solely on the DNA from her rape kit sample, taken five years earlier. Public outcry ensued, and once the district attorney learned of the source of the DNA, the charges against her were dropped. As reported by Mission Local:19

"Under the Fourth Amendment, law enforcement must obtain a warrant or written permission from a court to lawfully seize evidence. And, in this case, 'It's very clear that they're not consenting to their DNA being collected to use five, 10, 15 years later on in a law enforcement investigation,' [district attorney Chesa] Boudin said."

California lawmakers have also approved a bill to prohibit the use of DNA collected from victims for any other purpose than to identify the perpetrator of the crime against them.20

Now, if DNA samples from victims can later be used to tie them to another crime, how do you think DNA samples voluntarily handed over to a DNA testing company may be used? Anyone can essentially be framed for any crime.

DNA Can Be Used Against Dissidents of All Stripes

Going back to Benson's article:21

"A report that was published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in mid-June claims that China is operating the 'world's largest police-run DNA database' as part of its powerful surveillance state.

Chinese authorities have collected DNA samples from possibly as many as 70 million men since 2017, and the total database is believed to contain as many as 140 million profiles. The country hopes to collect DNA from all of its male citizens, as it argues men are most likely to commit crimes.

DNA is reportedly often collected during what are represented as free physicals, and it's also being collected from children at schools. There are reports of Chinese citizens being threatened with punishment by government officials if they refuse to give a DNA sample.

Much of the DNA that's been collected has been from Uighur Muslims that have been oppressed by the Chinese government and infamously forced into concentration camps in the Xinjiang province ...

James Leibold, a nonresident senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and one of the authors of the report on China's DNA database, tells Spectrum that he is worried that China building up and utilizing this database could normalize this type of behavior.

'Global norms around genomic data are currently in a state of flux. China is the only country in the world conducting mass harvesting of DNA data outside a major criminal investigation,' Leibold says. 'It's the only forensic DNA database in the world to contain troves of samples from innocent civilians.'

Leibold says ethnic minorities like the Uighurs aren't the only ones threatened by this mass DNA collection. He says the database could be used against dissidents and any other people who the government sees as a threat ...

'We know the Chinese police have planted evidence in the past, and now it is conceivable that they could use planted DNA to convict 'enemies of the state.'"

In this post-COVID era, you can replace "China" with most Western countries, and "Uighur Muslims" with "anti-vaxxers," whom intelligence agencies have declared "a national security threat."

Your DNA in the Hands of Big Pharma: The Dark Side of Genetic Testing

The Genetic Conspiracy: DNA Tests Are Sold to Highest Bidder

STORY AT-A-GLANCE

Do you know who has access to your genetic data? If you've used a DNA testing company like 23andMe, chances are your genetic data is in the hands of insurance companies and drug companies. It may also be in the hands of hackers. Either way, your DNA could be used against you.

GlaxoSmithKline Extends Data Mining Contract With 23andMe

As reported by Bloomberg,1 GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) will pay 23andMe $20 million to extend its five-year contract to mine the company's consumer DNA data for another year:

"The idea for drugmakers is to comb the data for hints about genetic pathways that might be at the root of disease, which could significantly speed up the long, slow process of drug development.

23andMe Seeks to Transform Into a Health Care Company

According to Bloomberg:5

"Total Health is designed to pinpoint genes 23andMe views as 'actionable' — those that some combination of lifestyle changes and medication can affect.

The list includes the more than 80 genes the American College of Medical Genetics consider actionable, including those for cancer, cardiovascular disease, metabolic disease and neurological disorders ...

Genetic Predisposition — A Tactic to Increase Drug Sales

This is an excellent example of why Americans are so mired in chronic illness, and why genetic testing, as it currently stands, will do nothing to ameliorate the situation.

If you have genetic risk factors for early heart disease, the last thing you want to do is go on cholesterol-lowering drugs as they destroy heart tissue and act as mitochondrial toxins,6,7 Statins also raise your risk of diabetes and dementia.

Your Genetic Data Can Be Used Against You in Many Ways

"In Australia, life insurance companies can legally use the results of genetic tests to discriminate. They can decline to provide life insurance coverage, increase the cost of premiums, or place exclusions on an individual's cover ...

This week, a number of federal parliamentarians argued for a ban on genetic discrimination by life insurance companies ... The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 prohibits discrimination on a number of different bases, including genetic risk factors.

However, there is a specific carve-out in the Act that allows life insurers to discriminate in ways other entities are prohibited from doing. This means companies providing insurance for death, income protection, and disability can discriminate on the basis of genetic risk of disease.

Other companies that provide risk-rated insurance (where insurers assess an individual's risk factors and change coverage or premiums based on this risk) can also use genetic test results to discriminate. This includes travel insurance."

23andMe, the Google of Gene-Based Medicine

As noted in a November 2013 article by Scientific American,9 23andMe poses a unique threat to the public that few ever discuss. While sold as a medical device, its true function is that of a massive information-gathering operation, just like Google turned out to be.

While it took a while, it's now become crystal clear that Google is using all that personal data gathered from users to control and suppress information that doesn't benefit its advertisers. Will 23andMe end up being a repeat of Google's bait and switch? As reported by Scientific American:10

"Although 23andMe admits that it will share aggregate information about users genomes to third parties, it adamantly insists that it will not sell your personal genetic information without your explicit consent. We've heard that one before ...

For 23andMe's Personal Genome Service is much more than a medical device; it is a one-way portal into a world where corporations have access to the innermost contents of your cells and where insurers and pharmaceutical firms and marketers might know more about your body than you know yourself.

And as 23andMe warns on its website, 'Genetic Information that you share with others could be used against your interests. You should be careful about sharing your Genetic Information with others.' Present company excepted, of course."

For the record, that warning no longer exists on 23andMe's website. In the end, we may well see DNA testing companies like 23andMe share everyone's genetic data with insurance companies, which in turn may force you into pharmaceutical solutions for problems you don't yet have.

The CIA Connection

Interestingly, the connection between Google and 23andMe is closer than you might think. 23andMe cofounder Anne Wojcicki was married to Google founder Sergey Brin for eight years and the couple have two children together. They divorced in 2015.

Wojcicki's sister, Susan Wojcicki, was one of Google's first employees. In 2006, she convinced Google to acquire YouTube and served as YouTube's CEO from 2014 until 2023. She's now an adviser to Google and its parent company Alphabet.11,12

As reported by Quartz magazine, Google came about largely thanks to research grants for mass surveillance technologies from the CIA and NSA.13

You don't need predictive AI to figure out that the beneficiaries of 23andMe's data will be the drug industry and the intelligence agencies that are working to further the transhumanist and technocratic goals and ambitions of the globalist deep state.

Data Breaches Are Inevitable, and Have Already Occurred

Data breaches and hacks are becoming ever more prevalent, and 23andMe is not immune to that threat. In fact, in late October 2023, the company notified customers that a breach into its "DNA relatives" databank had occurred. As reported by Reuters:17

"Genetics testing company 23andMe ... sent emails to several customers to inform them of a breach into the 'DNA Relatives' feature that allowed them to compare ancestry information with users worldwide ...

Since news of the hack, many customers have expressed worries their ethnicity and other sensitive information could be used against them if leaked."

While that might sound paranoid, Thor Benson, in a June 2020 IEEE Spectrum article18 argued that "DNA databases in the U.S. and China are tools of racial oppression," and that "What is initially presented as a public good can easily be used for evil ends."

Your DNA Could Be Used to Pin a Crime on You

Benson's article focuses not on the use of DNA in medicine but rather its use in law enforcement. DNA samples are routinely collected when you're arrested, and that DNA database is then used during other crime investigations.

California lawmakers have also approved a bill to prohibit the use of DNA collected from victims for any other purpose than to identify the perpetrator of the crime against them.20

Now, if DNA samples from victims can later be used to tie them to another crime, how do you think DNA samples voluntarily handed over to a DNA testing company may be used? Anyone can essentially be framed for any crime.

DNA Can Be Used Against Dissidents of All Stripes

Going back to Benson's article:21

"A report that was published by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute in mid-June claims that China is operating the 'world's largest police-run DNA database' as part of its powerful surveillance state.

Chinese authorities have collected DNA samples from possibly as many as 70 million men since 2017, and the total database is believed to contain as many as 140 million profiles. The country hopes to collect DNA from all of its male citizens, as it argues men are most likely to commit crimes.

DNA is reportedly often collected during what are represented as free physicals, and it's also being collected from children at schools. There are reports of Chinese citizens being threatened with punishment by government officials if they refuse to give a DNA sample.

Much of the DNA that's been collected has been from Uighur Muslims that have been oppressed by the Chinese government and infamously forced into concentration camps in the Xinjiang province ...

James Leibold, a nonresident senior fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute and one of the authors of the report on China's DNA database, tells Spectrum that he is worried that China building up and utilizing this database could normalize this type of behavior.

Leibold says ethnic minorities like the Uighurs aren't the only ones threatened by this mass DNA collection. He says the database could be used against dissidents and any other people who the government sees as a threat ...

'We know the Chinese police have planted evidence in the past, and now it is conceivable that they could use planted DNA to convict 'enemies of the state.'"

In this post-COVID era, you can replace "China" with most Western countries, and "Uighur Muslims" with "anti-vaxxers," whom intelligence agencies have declared "a national security threat."

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