New Social Networking Site Compares Friends' DNA

How would you like to find out what makes you up genetically and compare your results with your friends? Linda Avey and Anne Wojicki founded 23andMe, which is one of the many companies providing DNA testing to its customers. They have now expanded their services by developing a social networking site, where people will be able to compare their DNA with family members, friends, and other members of the site.

For the low sticker price of $999, the DNA kit is delivered to your home. You spit in the cup, and the lab takes care of the rest.

Then comes the fun part. In about a month up to 600,000 genetic variations are securely sent to your online database in easy-to-read graphs and charts. Dig around and you'll find the genomes that link to your risks for diseases, eye color, height. You can even compare it to your ancestry.

On 23andme's social networking site, you can compare with others and identify possible disease risks as well. You can even compare your own genes to celebrities who have similar DNA.

Concerns of DNA Social Networking

Avey and Wojicki hope their new social networking site will make people aware of the benefits of genome testing and encourage people to get it done. They hope as the site grows a large genome database will result, which will allow people to search and discuss common DNA traits.

Of course, there are always the privacy concerns. The company states they will not sell any information they receive from people to pharmaceutical companies. The only information available for sale is from people who have given the company permission to do so along with conducting future surveys and research.

Sources

• 23andMe <https://www.23andme.com/>
• Images by Square87 and Bbkkk, from top to bottom [creative commons, 2.0]