DNA is valuable. Last year, the pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline announced a $300 million deal with 23andMe to use home DNA results from its 5 million customers for new drug research. At the end of last year, Genomics Medicine Ireland announced it intended to gather DNA from 400,000 people in Ireland to research new medical treatments.
Should we be concerned? Sharing DNA information with researchers would benefit humanity? And surely in Ireland the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) can shield us?
Digital Rights Ireland Director Antoin O. Lachtnain says that when it comes to DNA, GDPR “provides legal protections. But the problem is that those protections may not be practically effective”.
As one of the most sensitive and personal pieces of information about you, your DNA data need to be protected and kept safe. With this in mind, AlphaBiolabs wants to reassure its customers that its DNA testing is 100% confidential and data security is paramount.
We don’t sell on your data
We limit access to your personal data to those employees, agents, contractors and other third parties who have a business need to know. They will only process your personal data on our instructions and they are subject to a duty of confidentiality.
We keep all correspondence confidential
We understand that DNA relationship testing can be an emotional time. Not all of our customers want their close family to know that they are undertaking such tests. For this reason, we go to great lengths to minimise any chance of the company name being recognised in any correspondence. For example, online payment transactions do not name AlphaBiolabs as the recipient on bank statements.
In addition, all of our testing kits are sent out in discreet plain packaging with no company logos or branding.
We password protect all data
We only discuss any details of our DNA testing with those who are entitled to know (on receipt of correct passwords or answers to unique security questions). All of our reports are sent as a pdf file that require a password. This password is picked by the person who instructs the test and protects the report from being opened by anyone who doesn’t know the password.
We will keep your results and personal information secure
We work hard to prevent your personal data from being disclosed or accessed in an unauthorised way by using a secure server that protects any financial transactions on our website. We also take appropriate electronic, physical and managerial measures to ensure that any data disclosed to us are kept secure.
We adhere to the General Data Protection Regulation
This means that DNA samples are destroyed after 3 months and all identification documents – hard copy and electronic files – are destroyed after 12-18 months. For all information on our DNA testing services, visit our website https://www.alphabiolabs.ie, call Customer Services on 0140 29466 or email us at info@alphabiolabs.ie
