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EMAIL ME: tracelara@pm.me (outlook email is gone)
THANK YOU CHI MEGWETCH!
A few weeks ago while doom-scrolling my Instagram feed, I came across a blaring headline
by The Washington Post urging me to immediately delete my DNA data from
23andMe: “If you’re one of the 15 million people who shared your DNA
with 23andMe, it’s time to delete your data.”
I almost skipped past it,
but then remembered that I had taken their test in high school in an
effort to find out more about my biological parents. The results had
revealed nothing new to me nor offered any insight into my ancestry, so
by the time I came across this warning, the entire ordeal had slipped my
mind. By March 23, the genetic information company declared bankruptcy, and later that week, California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a “consumer alert” warning people to delete their genetic data housed by the firm.
For most customers, severing ties with this company may seem like a
cut-and-dry situation. However, that decision may be far more complex
for one group of people: adoptees.
In between frantically searching for my old 23andMe login and scouring the news, I came across a post by the Nanchang Project,
urging customers to keep their 23andMe data. This nonprofit aims to
build a community of adoptees and aid in their search for biological
relatives in China by organizing DNA testing and origin search trips. I
happened to come across their website last year during my own search for
more Asian adoptee communities. Since its founding, the nonprofit has
helped reunite 94 adoptees with their biological parents and have done
more than 400 biological tests — all relying heavily on 23andMe.
Officials, including California’s attorney general, question what will happen to the data collected by the firm.
Published 24 Mar 2025
Genetic
testing firm 23andMe has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in
the United States amid weak demand and losses from a 2023 data breach.
Its co-founder and CEO has resigned.
San Francisco-based 23andMe announced on Sunday that it will look to
sell “substantially all of its assets” through a court-approved
reorganisation plan.
The company’s shares fell 50 percent to 88 cents in Monday trading
after co-founder Anne Wojcicki, who made multiple failed takeover bids,
resigned as CEO. 23andMe did not say whether there are other interested
bidders. It will continue to operate during the sale process, having
secured $35m in financing over the weekend.
Wojcicki intends to still bid on 23andMe as the company pursues a sale through the bankruptcy process. In a statement on social media, Wojcicki said she resigned as CEO to be “in the best position” as an independent bidder.
“There is no doubt that the challenges faced by 23andMe through an
evolving business model have been real, but my belief in the company and
its future is unwavering,” she later added.
Officials, including California Attorney General Rob Bonta, have
questioned what would happen to the genetic data collected by 23andMe
although the company’s privacy policies say the data could be sold to
other firms. The company said the bankruptcy process will not affect how
it stores, manages or protects customer data.
23andMe garnered lots of attention from investors when it was first
taken public via a special-purpose acquisition vehicle (SPAC) run by
billionaire Richard Branson at a $3.5bn valuation in 2021. Its market
value peaked later that year at nearly $6bn due to booming interest in
DNA testing kits, but demand has waned since, hurting 23andMe and its
Blackstone-owned rival, AncestryDNA.
Sales of the consumer kits frequently picked up during the yearend
holidays, but 23andMe has struggled to retain customers mainly because
people would use the kits once and see little reason to order another
one. Bernstein Research analysts said the market for ancestry testing
kits might be close to tapped out.
In 2023, hackers exposed the personal data of nearly seven million
23andMe customers over a five-month period, dealing a major blow to the
company’s reputation and compounding its growth problems. The breach
raised alarm among customers concerned about their privacy and how
DNA-testing firms handle their data.
23andMe eventually agreed late last year to a $30m settlement in a lawsuit related to the breach.
Founded on a promise
23andMe was founded in 2006 with a promise to revolutionise the
future of genetics and healthcare. The company became known for its
saliva-based DNA testing kits, purchased by millions of customers eager
to learn more about their ancestry, and later dived further into health
research and drug development.
But recent years have been far from smooth sailing for it. And Sunday’s voluntary bankruptcy filing caps months of turmoil.
In September, all of its independent directors resigned in a rare move after acquisition negotiations with Wojcicki.
The company then announced in November that it would lay off 40
percent of its workforce, or more than 200 employees, and discontinue
its therapeutics division. And in January, the board’s special committee
said it was exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible
sale.
Beyond the data breach, uncertainty about the company’s future
overall has also led some to recently urge 23andMe customers to delete
their data.
On Friday, days before 23andMe’s bankruptcy filing, Bonta issued an urgent alert
reminding 23andMe customers of their legal rights under state law and
called on them to consider deleting and destroying any genetic data held
by the company. Bonta’s office pointed to 23andMe’s ongoing financial
distress and “trove of sensitive consumer data” the company has amassed.
After Ancestry caught wind of its users' data concerns,
a company spokesperson stated that Blackstone would not have access to
genetic or family tree information provided by users. According to CBS
News, the company has no plans to change its data storage or access
rules.
23&Me is collapsing: turns out, all that precious DNA data is worthless.
Quick Note By Trace L Hentz (p.s. I'm an elder, too)
Native Elders warned long ago about the collection of your sacred and sovereign DNA (blood and spit) - and the elders also warned about colonial QUACKS (bad medicine) and science's inaccuracy! Bad data? That, too.
Ever wondered if genetic research is being done on Indigenous people? Absolutely and often without their knowledge. The film “The Leech and the Earthworm” chronicles the new Columbus – a genetic scientist who wants to map your genetic identity, and will even steal to get it.”
One interview that stands out is with Larry Baird, leader of the
Nuu-chah-nulth Tribe of Vancouver Island, Canada, who was outraged to
find out that DNA samples taken from over 800 tribal members almost 20
years ago for arthritis research were taken to Oxford (in England) and used for other purposes without their consent. (Cloning and worse...)
Mainstream History was written so wrong, so fake, for so long, you cannot trust it, any of it... Think back to school... what did you learn? No history worth your time remembering, I'd bet. (We're educated to be ignorant?)
Years ago, my birthfather's family (cousins) insisted they do DNA to prove what tribe - well, dah... that failed... YOU CANNOT PROVE YOUR TRIBE with a DNA swab. The "science" is total bullcrap. (But all those expensive TV Commercials told you and sold you, right?)
They are making MONEY on our stupidity!
You and I and DNA cannot begin to correct the bad history, a million years of migrations, conquest, intermarriages, invasions and murders -and bad theories abound about our FIRST NATIONS (aka anthropology)...
To today...
In what feels like a desperate attempt to stay afloat, 23andMe plans to… start prescribing weight loss drugs. How did we get here, with the once-mighty DNA testing company becoming just the latest to join the GLP-1 trend, like so many others
have already done? But 23andMe has few cards left to play. Once
valued at $6 billion, it’s now a penny stock on the verge of being
delisted from the Nasdaq. It’s struggled to stoke demand for its DNA
spit tests, and its attempts to use its trove of genetic data for drug
discovery and development have been predictably expensive, with
potential profits a long way off.
On
Friday, August 9, the company said it’s shutting down its internal drug
discovery efforts but will continue to fund development of two cancer
drugs.
23andMe's
attempt in recent years to connect consumer DNA tests to health —
showing the diseases people are at risk for, and visits with doctors who
can help determine next steps — seems like an offering that should catch on, especially given how popular the longevity and wellness fads have become.
But that was all a fraud and didn't work!
The
experts are baffled - why, given the mountain of precious DNA
information, the “code of life” and “software for everything” the
company can’t make it work? Some brave souls have suggested there’s not much doctors can do with the information gleaned from consumer DNA tests.
Oh, great!
By
the way, it’s not much anyone can do with DNA data, other than make
Ponzi schemes investing into stupid things like 23andMe, then pumping
and dumping the stock. Admittedly, a Ponzi scheme can last a while and
be profitable for some, who dump the stock ahead of others.
BAD SCIENCE? Isolation of DNA from nucleus of cells is just as hocus-pocus as
isolation of viruses from samples. Despite several decades after the
hyped-up “human genome sequencing” project completion, which promised to
cure cancer (yeah… again…) and all diseases, none of that happened.
Nothing really useful came out of those billions invested into the pipe
dream of cracking the genetic “code of life”. At the completion of the
human genome project, Svante Paabo could not coherently explain the
difference between a chimpanzee and a human, while any 5 year old will
have no difficulty explaining it. (A huge waste of MONEY, too.)
👉 Did you know the new weight loss shots have killed people...America is buying these (weight loss) drugs and having them prescribed to Americans more than any other country on earth.” This is where he shocked me the most.
“…the company
Novo Nordisk ... was just handed 10,000
lawsuits by people who have used Ozempic and Wegovy and have now either died, had brain cancers, had thyroid cancers, breast cancers, paralyzed stomachs.
...and there is a rise in strange cancers, sudden deaths and autoimmune diseases NEVER seen before…
Both companies 23AndMe and Ancestry.com will collect your DNA sample,
charge you money to tell you who you are related to —
BUT they are under no obligation to keep this private. As far as I can
tell they use this data to sell your information, and of course profit
from it. (Always follow that money, right?)
Kim Wheeler was adopted during the Sixties Scoop and fought to find her way back to her culture My name is Kim Wheeler but some know me as...
Bookshop
You are not alone
To Veronica Brown
Veronica, we adult adoptees are thinking of you today and every day. We will be here when you need us. Your journey in the adopted life has begun, nothing can revoke that now, the damage cannot be undone. Be courageous, you have what no adoptee before you has had; a strong group of adult adoptees who know your story, who are behind you and will always be so.
Diane Tells His Name
click photo
Lost Birds on Al Jazeera Fault Lines
click to read and listen about Trace, Diane, Julie and Suzie
NO MORE STOLEN SISTERS
click image
We conclude this series & continue the conversation by naming that adoption is genocide. This naming refers to the process of genocide that breaks kinship ties through adoption & other forms of family separation & policing 🧵#NAAM2022#AdoptionIsTraumaAND#AdopteeTwitter#FFY 1/6 pic.twitter.com/46v0mWISZ1
As the single largest unregulated industry in the United States, adoption is viewed as a benevolent action that results in the formation of “forever families.” The truth is that it is a very lucrative business with a known sales pitch. With profits last estimated at over $1.44 billion dollars a year, mothers who consider adoption for their babies need to be very aware that all of this promotion clouds the facts and only though independent research can they get an accurate account of what life might be like for both them and their child after signing the adoption paperwork.
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