In the ever-growing field of personal-data mining, marketing firms already latch on to details far beyond the sphere of names and postal codes to gain insights into consumers’ personal tastes. And DNA may well be the next frontier: genetic information gleaned from burgeoning databases. [Thousands], for instance, have contributed their DNA for ancestry or health tests.
If that sounds far-fetched, consider this: Two years ago, just a decade after the first human genome was mapped, Visa Inc., one of the world’s largest credit-card companies, tried to secure a patent that would allow it to search, among other things, DNA databanks for marketing purposes. As the cost to sequence DNA drops, and online databases grow, the commercial interests in consumers’ genetic profiles is likely to grow along with it. In the academic world, researchers are already mining human DNA for links between genes and consumer preferences.
Additional Resources:
Related on the SLP
- “The DNA Dilemma: Why science wants your genome,” The Globe and Mail
- “What’s your DNA worth?” Forbes
View the original article here: Why your DNA is a goldmine for marketers
