The House Oversight Committee has launched an investigation into the privacy and security risks associated with the bankruptcy of genetic testing company 23andMe and has asked its former CEO to testify at a hearing planned for early May.
The company’s bankruptcy filing “raises significant concerns regarding potential transfers of customers’ and family members’ sensitive personal data to various interested entities,” including China’s government, says committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY) in a letter to Anne Wojcicki, who initiated 23andMe’s bankruptcy proceedings in March and resigned as chief executive soon afterward.
Comer’s comments echo those of other lawmakers, including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, who last week raised alarms about 23andMe in a letter to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent.
Within the Trump administration, the Federal Trade Commission has warned that any purchaser of 23andMe must adhere to the company’s existing privacy policies. 23andMe is known for at-home saliva DNA tests used by millions of people. An October 2023 data breach exposed the information of about 6 million customers, including large sets of people of Jewish and Chinese descent.
Wojcicki, a co-founder of 23andMe, is still on the company’s board of directors. Comer requested her testimony at a May 6 hearing. Joe Selsavage, the company’s chief financial and accounting officer, is serving as interim CEO, but is not mentioned in the letter. The Oversight panel has a long history of probing problems at corporations and other entities.
“Potential harm for consumers from the transfer of genetic data amid the bankruptcy of 23andMe does not come solely from hostile foreign actors,” Comer said. “Disclosure of individuals’ genetic data could also be analyzed and used for assessing higher insurance premiums, restrictions on credit extensions by financial institutions, and targeted advertising based on predisposition to specific medical conditions.”
Comer asked Wojcicki for all documents in her possession or control about the bankruptcy filing and the potential sale or transfer of customers’ genetic data.
23andMe did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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Joe Warminsky
is the news editor for Recorded Future News. He has more than 25 years experience as an editor and writer in the Washington, D.C., area. He previously he helped lead CyberScoop for more than five years. Prior to that, he was a digital editor at WAMU 88.5, the NPR affiliate in Washington, and he spent more than a decade editing coverage of Congress for CQ Roll Call.
