Health
House Intelligence Committee member warns DNA testing could lead to bioweapon targeting
"There are now weapons under development and developed that are designed to target specific people," Crow said
July 24, 2022 6:33pm
Updated: July 25, 2022 6:08pm
House Intelligence Committee member Rep. Jason Crow (D-Colo.) warned Americans to avoid DNA testing services over concerns that the information can be sold to make bioweapons to target specific groups or even people.
"There are now weapons under development and developed that are designed to target specific people," Crow, a U.S. Army veteran, said during an Aspen Institute event on Friday.
"You can actually take someone's DNA, take their medical profile and you can target a biological weapon that will kill that person or take them off the battlefield or make them inoperable," he said before going on to discuss privacy and commercial data.
"People will very rapidly spit into a cup and send it into 23andMe and get really interesting data about their background and guess what? Their DNA is now owned by a private company and can be sold off with very little intellectual property protection or privacy protection," he noted.
23andMe says it will "never" share users' information without their "explicit consent."
