If you paid 23andMe to take a look at your DNA, maybe you wanted to know more than why you like cilantro or are related to Genghis Khan, maybe you thought you were advancing science.

Well, you are, in the same old way marketers have long advanced science - by selling information about customers. In this case, the DNA information of 1.2 million people, sold to more than 13 drug companies. Genentech paid $10 million to look at the genes of people with Parkinson’s disease.

Now, that's good, it isn't like a Parkinson's treatment is going to come from the government, but 23andMe customers paid to have their DNA info sold to other companies. That is a sucker move.

It isn't the first time 23andMe has boldly gone into an ethical gray area. In 2010, a lot of alarms were being raised about their conduct regarding informed consent, in 2013 the FDA threatened them with "seizure, injunction, and civil money penalties" because of their marketing claims. Jeffrey Shuren, M.D., J.D., Director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, was hilarious in his condemnation of them then:

FDA is not standing in the way of 23andMe selling tests intended to help consumers trace their ancestry, identify relatives and tell them why they like or don’t like the taste of cilantro.

They just couldn't claim they help people “take steps toward mitigating serious diseases” such as diabetes, coronary heart disease, and breast cancer.

But they can sell your DNA info to customers. Customers paid them to do so.

23andMe Sells Data for Drug Search - by Antonio Regalado, Technology Review