Congress has questions on 23andMe chapter

3The leaders of the Home Committee on Power and Commerce mentioned they’re investigating how 23andMe’s chapter may have an effect on prospects’ knowledge.

Representatives Brett Guthrie, Gus Bilirakis, and Gary Palmer (all Republicans) despatched a letter Thursday to the genetic testing firm’s interim CEO Joe Selsavage asking a lot of questions on how 23andMe will deal with buyer knowledge if the corporate is offered.

The letter additionally says that some prospects have reported issues deleting their knowledge from the 23andMe web site, and it notes that direct-to-consumer corporations like 23andMe are usually not coated by the protections of the Well being Insurance coverage Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

“Given the shortage of HIPAA protections, the patchwork of state legal guidelines overlaying genetic privateness, and the uncertainty surrounding what occurs to buyer data ought to a sale of an organization or buyer knowledge and data transpire, we’re involved that this trove of delicate data is vulnerable to being comprised,” the representatives write.

23andMe, which settled an information breach lawsuit for $30 million final yr, filed for chapter 11 chapter in March, with co-founder and CEO Anne Wojciki saying she was resigning to change into a non-public bidder for the corporate.