“Egregious examples of deceptive marketing”. No, not door-to-door life insurance or encyclopaedias. This was how the US Government Accountability Office described firms selling genetic testing kits after an undercover operation.

Federal investigators bought 10 kits each from four of the companies, selected real donors to send in samples for testing, and made calls to the companies posing as fictitious customers seeking health advice. The four companies were 23andMe, Pathway Genomics, DeCode Genetics and Navigenics.

According to the GAO, the companies had sent donors different results for the same sample and told donors that they had a reduced risk of getting diseases that they already had. Also, the report said that two companies suggested that personalised supplements to cure diseases could be formulated using a customer’s DNA. One company representative told a consumer she had a high risk for breast cancer, despite the fact that the company did not actually test for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 breast cancer mutations. Another customer with a pacemaker implanted 13 years ago to treat an irregular heartbeat was told that he was at a decreased risk of developing that condition.

Kari Stefansson, executive chairman and president of research at Iceland-based DeCode Genetics, has denied the charges in the report, calling them “slanderous claims about sloppiness and misleading work.”

Stefansson said that DeCode provides consumers with accurate genetic risk assessments that are based on validated science. He also says that both genetic and environmental risk factors must be taken into account for certain diseases. “The fact that someone develops a heart attack,” he said, “does not mean he has a high genetic risk for heart attack.”

Congress and the Food and Drug Administration are currently investigating the genetic testing market for. Some officials have expressed concerns over the quality of the tests and the degree of variance between analyses by different companies. Also, many are concerned that people will make medical decisions based on the results without consulting the appropriate medical professionals. ~ New York Times, Jul 22