Are we descending into a DNA dystopia?

TL;DR: we need to own and use our DNA, or face others use it against us

Since the rise of the alt-right I have been astonished by its use of words that relate to DNA, and even to DNA itself.

In fact, the notions of identity, race, extended family, nation and even the identity of groups such as jews are common in DNA science and white nationalists ideology (look up Richard Spencer, for example).

Actually, a new and growing motivation to obtain one’s genome information is to assess ‘whiteness’.

When creating an exclusively white nation is the goal of white nationalists, I won’t elaborate on how this could ultimately play out.

We need to take things into our own hands

Things are not looking good: let’s face it, only 1% of us own our own medical data (😮 😡), and it’s only expected to increase to 2% in 2 years.

Today, more than 1 million people have given away their DNA information, as well as their physical DNA to companies such as 23andMe and AncestryDNA.

As privacy prospects deteriorate with the rise of Donald Trump, it is our responsibility to take things into our own hands or let others the chance to abuse it.

Does this seem far-fetched? Is it scary? Let me know what you think in the comments.

You can take action now by joining the DNAvID community https://dnavid.com, to discuss, share, and use our DNA information. for our own benefit and under our own terms.

-David Weiss

Founder of https://dnavid.com

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Previously PhD @ ULB, Research @ Broad/MIT, Founder/CEO @InSilicoDB and GenePlaza.

Follow on Twitter Dnavid.

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The more we are, the more we can do: please recommend to spread this message

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