Abstract

The popularization of direct to consumer genetic (DTCG) services such as genetic ancestry, biogeography and genetic susceptibility to diseases have been increasing in the last years and it is estimated that the market will continue to grow in the next decades. However, the public availability of the databases generated from the companies providing these services have raised some concerns about the privacy of customers and unanticipated future applications of their data and samples stored by the companies. Here, we briefly discuss these issues and present some potential alternatives to address the situation, including keeping a well informed customer services, the use medical support and more regulation to access the databases.