From the U.S. Government Accountability Office, www.gao.gov

Title: Undercover Contact with Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing
Companies

Description: Examples of deceptive or dangerous marketing used by
genetic testing companies,
obtained by GAO through undercover contact and telephone calls.

Associated Publication Number: GAO-10-847T

Issue Date: 07/22/2010

Example 1: Misleading Statements: Tests Are Diagnostic

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] So if I'm high risk, does that mean I’ll
definitely get breast cancer?

[ Company Representative: ] You…you’d be in the high risk of, you know,
pretty much getting it so...

Experts called this statement “disconcerting” and “horrifying.”

(This company does not test for the BRCA variants.)


Example 2: Misleading Statements: Claims That DNA Can Be Repaired

[ Company Representative: ] We’ve found out recently that we can repair
DNA damage; this has been known for a while, and demonstrated. And…

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] You can, really?

[ Company Representative: ] Oh, yeah, it’s called epigenetics and...

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] That’s repairing DNA?

[ Company Representative: ] Yeah.

The genes are considered now not to be the source of our biology,
they're a symptom.

Experts said there is “no scientific basis for these claims.”


Example 3: Illegal Practices: Consumer Consent and Privacy

Company Web sites require consumers to explicitly consent to genetic
testing before submitting a DNA sample.

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] I thought it would be an awesome gift to give
my fiancé his, like, his DNA tested with mine.

[ Company Representative: ] Oh yeah, that would be great!

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] Uh, uh. And I was just planning on having him,
and submitting it for him and surprising him, is that okay?

[ Company Representative: ] You could surprise him and let him know that
it's the ancestry test and then surprise him with the health information
too, or I don't know.

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] Okay, so as long as I can get the vial of
saliva somehow, I can send it and you can test it for me?

[ Company Representative: ] Absolutely.

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] Okay, that will be amazing, thank you!

[ Company Representative: ] Uh, uh. Yeah, we have people we just don't
know that that's what they’re doing.

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] Okay.

[ Company Representative: ] Sometimes people will purchase something,
send it in, you know, and get the results.

Experts characterized this practice as dangerous and irresponsible.

Thirty-three states currently restrict surreptitious testing.


Example 4: Deceptive Marketing: Bogus Celebrity Endorsements

[ Company Representative: ] Lance Armstrong, meeting with him in, at the
end of February. He is...I mean when he went to our Web site, he had a
chance to talk of course to his doctors, his people talk with our
people, and they say it’s the most amazing thing they've ever seen.

Representatives for Lance Armstrong said that they were not familiar
with the product and had no endorsements or dealings with this company.

Example 5: Deceptive Marketing: Supplements Can Cure Disease

[ Company Representative: ] My Mom and Dad both have high cholesterol
and problem maintaining blood pressure; I don't have either one, but my
parents got both. If I wouldn't have started taking my product, I
would…it's in my genes…I would eventually get it because it’s in my
genes.

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] Now, so they both have it, you don't, and if
you take the supplement you don't get it.

[ Company Representative: ] Right.

[ Fictitious Consumer: ] So like I'm on high cholesterol medicine so I
can stop that if I take the supplement?

[ Company Representative: ] You’re going to continue on taking your
medicine, okay. It’s going get to a point, you're going to take him
[your doctor] your assessment, I’m sorry, start taking your custom
supplement and that’s when you're going to stop taking them [the
medicine] and you're going to monitor it the same way, the same way, but
the difference is that you're not going to be taking the medicine.

Experts said that consumers could suffer serious health consequences if
they follow this advice and one expert characterized the statements as
“absolute lies.”

FDA and NIH have stated that no supplement can cure disease.