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In reply to the discussion: This message was self-deleted by its author [View all]appalachiablue
(41,055 posts)Last edited Sun Mar 11, 2018, 11:38 PM - Edit history (1)
that they posthumously baptized (by proxy) Jewish Holocaust victims like Anne Frank which is offensive and absurd. Their ties to Ancestry that you mentioned are in this HuffPo article. The extent to which Ancestry was in the genetic family health data collection business, like Google-backed 23andMe is quite interesting.
This 2015 Huff Po article Updated 12/2017, focuses on issues of information collection and the use of 'genetic health data' especially related to family heath history and hereditary conditions, all of interest to the pharmaceutical and medical industries and others.
*ANCESTRY.COM IS QUIETLY TRANSFORMING ITSELF INTO A MEDICAL RESEARCH JUGGERNAUT* HuffPo, 2015/17
ANCESTRY.COM the $1.6 billion Internet company that his magazine evolved into is poised to become one of the most unlikely, yet powerful, scientific tools in the world. For about three years, its been collecting and analyzing genetic information through a service called AncestryDNA, and in the process, quietly asking consumers if theyd be willing to share their data with Ancestry for research. To date, its banked more than 800,000 samples from customers all over the world, rivaling the database of Google-backed genetics-analysis company 23ANDME, which boasts about 900,000 samples. And now, armed with mountains of health data, Ancestry.com is slowly transforming itself from a retirees hobby into a medical research juggernaut.
We actually do think that health is a pretty natural extension of the core mission to help everyone discover, preserve and share their family history, Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan told me earlier this week, during a visit to the companys San Francisco offices. Were exploring ways that we could participate in health and provide our users with health insights, for sure
.ways that we could leverage the data weve aggregated to support research efforts, similar to what 23andMe has done with Genentech and others like 23and Me.
Long before Ancestry.com got into the DNA game, it had ties to the MORMON church. Its owners were two Brigham Young University grads who had made their fortune selling Latter-day Saints publications on floppy disks. Access to Ancestry.com was free at LDS Family History Centers, and recently the company signed a deal with the churchs genealogy non-profit, FamilySearch.org.
Ancestry.coms huge advantage over services like 23andMe is its age; since it has been collecting ancestral data about its users for decades, it knows health information not just about its users, but about their great-grandparents and great-great-grandparents. That information, coupled with surveys and modern-day genetic testing, can inform users of any HEREDITARY CONDITIONS that run in their family, and help them project health problems in their future. Recently, the company has been testing a family health history experience, which will eventually help people use their family trees to aggregate family health history from their living family members. Our records give us a lot of family health history...
As Ancestry.com pivots into medical research, it would be wise to learn from the example of 23andMe, which has spent much of its life tangled up with federal regulators. 23andMe is Silicon Valleys BIOTECH darling a sexy, headline-grabbing company that was co-founded by Anne Wojcicki, a biologist who married Google co-founder Sergey Brinbut its reception by the government has been less glowing. After being told that it wasnt allowed to market its spit-in-a-vial genetic test as a medical diagnostic, 23andMe went ahead and did it anyway...Outside the consumer realm, though, 23andMe has had some victories. The companys massive database landed it some megadeals with pharmaceutical giants Genentech and Pfizer earlier this year, and last month, it launched its own drug-discovery lab, 23andMe Therapeutics.
Like 23andMe, Ancestry.com eventually hopes to make money by selling anonymized data about its users to large pharmaceutical and biotech companies. Already, the site has has had some initial conversations with companies that might value [its] data for purposes of research, Sullivan said, though they havent struck any deals yet. Those deals, if they happen, risk sparking privacy worries among Ancestry.coms users, as they did when 23andMe began selling its data to the highest bidder. But Sullivan and Freestone are confident that even if some users grimace at the idea of their genetic information being sold to Genentech or Pfizer, the long-term benefits will make the discomfort worth it.
More:https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/06/ancestrycom-medical-research-juggernaut_n_7008446.html
NYT, Jews Take Issue with Posthumous Mormon Baptism Beliefs, 03/03/2012
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/03/us/jews-take-issue-with-posthumous-mormon-baptisms-beliefs.html