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July 27, 2006 - A Senate committee chairman denounced at-home genetic tests sold over the Internet as "snake oil" after a government report released today branded the tests unreliable and misleading.
The tests are designed to alert consumers if they carry genetic mutations putting them at higher risk for diseases like diabetesdiabetes and hypertensionhypertension.
But today's report from the Government Accountability Office (GAO), the investigative arm of Congress, concluded they give consumers misdirected advice about disease risk.
"I want to send a message to consumers throughout the country: Buyer beware," Gregory D. Kutz, a GAO investigator, told the Senate Committee on Aging today.
Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., chairman of the committee, was sharply critical of the home tests: "Clearly consumers are being misled and exploited by this modern-day snake oil and I am shocked to learn how little the federal government is doing to help consumers make informed decisions about the legitimacy of these tests."
Investigation's Findings
The tests cost up to $325 and may instill unwarranted fear about impeding illnesses without evidence, said the report.
In some cases, they appear to serve as an avenue for marketing expensive supplement pills, says the report.
For its investigation, the GAO bought 14 test kits from four U.S. companies and returned them along with diet and lifestyle questionnaires.
But the DNA samples used to create the 14 fake customers came from just two people: a 9-month-old girl and a 42-year-old male.
All of the samples came back alerting the 'consumers' they were at increased risk for everything from osteoporosisosteoporosis to a "reduced ability to clear toxins," the report says.