6. Deleted
5/2/202628 min
After one of the biggest brands in at-home DNA testing is put up for sale - along with the genetic codes of millions of its customers - Jenny decides if she wants to continue to belong to the global DNA database.
In The Gift, Jenny Kleeman has always looked at extraordinary truths that unravel when people take at-home DNA tests. For Series 3, Jenny is asking what it means to belong in a world where the global DNA database keeps expanding.
Presenter: Jenny Kleeman Producer: Conor Garrett Production Coordinator: Juliette Harvey Commissioning Executive: Tracy Williams Commissioning Editor: Dan Clarke
The Gift is a BBC Studios production for BBC Radio 4
Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsJenni Kleeman· Host0:00
So it's wrapped in plastic. [plastic crinkling] It feels like a lifetime ago. One OrigeneDX saliva collection device containing two mini saline vials. It's three years since I spat into a plastic tube. [spits] Ooh. Right, and sent my genes off to both Ancestry and 23andMe. [claps hands] There we go. The two biggest brands in at-home DNA testing. A lot can happen in three years.
Speaker 1· Soundbite0:25
I don't know how this could impact future generations, and that's what's scariest for me as a mother.
Jenni Kleeman· Host0:32
In the autumn of 2023, hackers breached the accounts of nearly seven million 23andMe customers and put data stolen from Jewish users up for sale on the dark web.
Speaker 2· Guest0:44
This is not a game. DNA data is very personal. I mean, you could argue that it is the most personal information about you.
Jenni Kleeman· Host0:51
Unlike your front door key or your credit card number, you can never change the sequence of your DNA. Once you give it to a corporation, it's out of your hands.
Speaker 2· Guest1:02
As long as you're sending it to a for-profit company, you don't know what's gonna happen. They can be bought, they can be sold, they can be controlled by different people, and as users or customers, we really have little control.
Jenni Kleeman· Host1:14
And then in March 2025, this happened.
Speaker 3· Soundbite1:19
The DNA testing firm 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy protection in America.
Speaker 4· Soundbite1:24
The company, which offers saliva-based test kits, was once valued at $6 billion, but has struggled after