FTC hits personal genetics firm with false advertising lawsuit

It looks like the FDA smackdown on 23andMe was only the beginning. Another personal genetics firm, GeneLink Biosciences, has been charged with false advertising by the Federal Trade Commission, on the grounds that the company didn’t have the requisite scientific grounds to market its services to consumers.

It sounded like a miracle of science and convenience: swab your cheek and drop the saliva sample in the mailbox and GeneLink Biosciences, a personal genetics company, would analyze your DNA and send back nutritional supplements customized to your personal genome. The regimen, the company promised, was good for diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, insomnia and other ailments. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), however, thought it sounded like false advertising and brought a lawsuit against the company, charging its claims were misleading and not founded in sound science.