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This reminds me of a blog post in German [1] by a person who due to a software bug had been falsely diagnosed by 23andMe with limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. (Fortunately, he was able to identify that it was a misdiagnosis.) It appears that in this case potential misdiagnoses aren't just a theoretical problem.

[1] http://www.ctrl-verlust.net/23andme-wie-ich-fur-todkrank-erk...



Hi. Original author of that article here. I decided to finally translate the article to english: http://mntmn.com/pages/23andme.html


23andMe is very clear at every step of the way that it is not diagnosing anything.


This is what 23andMe said about that person's genome:

"Has two mutations linked to limb-girdle muscular dystrophy. A person with two of these mutations typically has limb-girdle muscular dystrophy."

Of course this not a diagnosis in a technical sense, but to a lot of people it will sound like it is. Specifically, I don't see how this is "very clearly" not a diagnosis.


https://www.23andme.com/store/cart/

Knowledge is power.

23andMe empowers you to better manage your health and wellness.

$99 [Add a kit]

There are no disclaimers on this page, just an aphorism, an assertion, and a call to action. Now I like the idea of 23andme, I like the company, and I'm educated and skeptical enough to enjoy some fluffy scientism for a hundred bucks, but don't tell me they're not selling the hell out of this.


Well, the FDA seems to think that 23andMe does market its product as diagnosing something. That’s what this whole letter is about.




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