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A state senator in California is introducing legislation designed to provide more oversight over direct-to-consumer genetic testing companies.
The new regulations, introduced by Santa Ana’s Democratic Senator Thomas Umberg, builds on attempts in the California Consumer Privacy Act to regulate the ways data collected from genetic testing can be used by companies.
“The fact that the Pentagon just warned all of the country’s military personnel to avoid home DNA tests should raise bright red flags for all consumers,” said Senator Umberg in a statement. “Direct-to-Consumer genetic testing companies have, to date, gone largely unregulated by either state or national governments. This has led to the disclosure of consumers’ private biological information to third parties.”
The CCPA regulates genetic testing companies by allowing consumers to request information on how their data is used and opt-out of any unauthorized applications of their data or sale of that data to third parties.
However, the current authorization forms are confusing and consumers often don’t have a lot of clarity into what they’ve consented to with their genetic data, according to a statement from Umberg’s...