Is Your DNA Now at Risk?

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome Rory O'Neil, twenty four to seven News national correspondent,
back to the program on what could be a vexing issue. Rory,
good morning, this twenty three and ME biotech company. I
think that one and Ancestry are the two big one.
But twenty three in me is near bankruptcy right right.

Speaker 2 (00:19):
They've lost ninety seven percent of their value in recent months.
The whole border directors quit. They just settled a class
action lawsuit over a data breach for thirty million dollars.
The question is what happens to all that DNA?

Speaker 1 (00:33):
Yes, what's the answer, Well, we don't really have one.

Speaker 2 (00:38):
So the CEO of the company says she's trying to
take it public, trying to write the ship here. The
company has never made a profit, by the way, but
they say they will maintain their current privacy policy. That's
the message they're trying to put out to the millions
of people who've gotten these tests. But look, if there's
another company that comes in either to partner with twenty

(01:01):
three and meters, they say that they're not trying to
sell off the company as a whole, But what data
access does that new partner company have or will they demand.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Yeah, this is this one an ancestry dot com or
the two big ones, and as wildly popular as they
have been, why are they in financial trouble?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
Well, they never made money first of all. I mean, well,
Ancestry has run through the Mormon Church, so I think
that they're less They've got deep enough pockets and they're
less concerned about turning a profit, Whereas this company really
had a lot of angel investors coming in thinking that
a lot of this DNA research could really be groundbreaking
when it comes to trying to help understand the prevalence

(01:45):
of diseases like diabetes or perhaps dementia, maybe even cancer,
and how that could be passed on to future generations.
I think a lot of this investment was all about
the potential here, but a lot of it hasn't been realized.
But look, this company was a darling. Even Oprah Winfrey
put the test as one of her favorite things. Time
magazine called it one of the inventions of the year.

(02:07):
So there was a lot of type all around this,
but again, it just was never able to turn a profit.

Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, it's kind of chilling to think what could happen. Yeah,
if that gets into the wrong hands, on the Sean P.
Deddy Cummbs story Rory Before we Go, one of the
more disgusting stories of the past year. He's got more
lawsuits coming now, right.

Speaker 2 (02:29):
Right, So he's already in federal jail for sex trafficking
criminal charges, but now since these criminal cases have been brought,
a lot of people have been filing civil lawsuits. About
seven more I think filed over the weekend, including from men, women,
and then one thirteen year old victim at the time
who says she was raped during one of these events

(02:51):
after an award show in New York. So some pretty
disgusting and deserving allegations. A lot of a list celebrities
have been tied to this, names specifically with confirmation have
dropped yet, but also reports that there are lots of
videos out there as well. This really could be just
the beginning of a lot of disturbing allegations coming forward.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
Yeah, you wonder if Sean or Jeffrey Epstein himself in jail.
A lot of big names jail, is that right? Wow?

Speaker 2 (03:20):
Yep.

Speaker 1 (03:21):
A lot of big names with a lot of money
don't want their names associated with that disgusting story.

Speaker 2 (03:28):
Yeah, exactly, And it's a lot of publicists I'm sure
trying to throw a wet blanket on this story.

Speaker 1 (03:33):
Rory. Thanks Rory O'Neil twenty four to seven News, corresponding
here on kfab's Morning News