Govt-approved covid testing labs should not be allowed to sell your DNA for profit

[noblegiraffe]

Shocking story in the Times says that a government approved PCR testing firm (for international travel and sporting events) had small print buried in their Terms and Conditions that allows them to sell customer DNA and information to 3rd parties.

www.thetimes.co.uk/article/testing-firm-can-profit-from-sale-of-covid-swabs-w6vkb2f2f

This is currently being investigated by the ICO, however it's not clear whether they have already sold people's DNA and personal details. They have conducted up to 3 million tests since last June, including on children.

How lax is the government approval process that allowed this to happen? Where's the oversight? What with the Immensa scandal where an unaccredited lab was allowed to issue thousands of incorrect PCR results, the outsourcing of public heath to private companies seems to be turning into a disaster.

Far more likely is that DNA is being sold without names attached, which I would regard as a complete non-issue.

Some people would regard a private company profiting from their DNA (which is about as personal as data can get) without their explicit consent as very much an issue.

And given that the company hid their intentions in the fine print, why would you trust that they were doing so without personal details attached? Ethical they are not.

Presumably GDPR and medical ethics regs will stop this now???

You’d hope so. But the issue there is has it already been sold?

Gosh!! I certainly didn’t sign anything to say they could do anything with my DNA. Surely the individual has to consent not just small print in their government contract??

Given all the controversy there’s been about the NHS’s grand plan to digitise all our health data…

fullfact.org/health/nhs-data/

Here is the latest situation with that (update on the Full Fact article above)
www.theguardian.com/society/2021/aug/22/nhs-data-grab-on-hold-as-millions-opt-out

Privacy campaigners and many ordinary people are concerned about the NHS records issue.

Tory government. Private profit is the only thing of any importance to them.

It's all very sinister. Basically human beings have become commodities to be bought and sold.

@EmbarrassingHadrosaurus

Of course this was going to happen.

It was such a golden opportunity that someone was going to be in a loophole to exploit.

Yes, it should have been obvious and the government should have read the fine print before approving the lab. Or at least said ‘don’t steal people’s DNA and sell it once you’ve tested for covid’.

I think it would be a reasonable assumption for a person to make when buying a covid test service that the swab would be destroyed after use. The real kicker here is that the people whose DNA has been potentially sold on paid the company while giving it to them.

The Tories have form for this sort of short-sighted rosy view of private business. Lord Adonis admits he made a mistake when allowing MAT CEOs to set their own pay with no pay cap. So of course MAT CEOs awarded themselves massive salaries using taxpayer money. Regulation and oversight is needed or people will try to make as much money for themselves as they can even if it’s ethically dubious.

They aren't technically government approved providers and they say so on the website. All the government does is check they're collecting the right data for test and trace and that's they're members of the appropriate bodies.

“Express Test is a DHSC (Department of Health & Social Care) listed private provider of COVID-19 testing services and part of Cignpost Diagnostics.”

I suppose it depends what most people would think “DHSC listed” meant. It may perhaps be technically different but Joe Public wouldn’t know that.

I'm not blaming the government, but this is shocking and should be stopped.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention OP

They write "government listed" now because they are not allowed to say "approved". But yes you're right it's designed to give that impression.