CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Recreational genetic testing companies hold some of the largest repositories of consumer DNA in the world, but what happens to all that personal information when the company goes belly up? It would most likely be sold to a successor company that customers might not want to entrust with their genetic data, says a new paper co-written by a University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign expert in big data for health care.
Although the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act prohibits the discriminatory use of genetic information by employers with 15 or more employees and health insurers, it doesn’t apply to uses by other parties, such as life or long-term care insurance — and it doesn’t stop direct-to-consumer…
