NEWS FLASH from VA Watchdog dot Org -- 08-02-2005

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The VA is going to sell your genetic information to drug companies!!!

This came to light in an article in Science Magazine on line.  Then, another article appeared in the Albany (NY) Times Union.  This article details a fight between the VA and SUNY Albany as to who did what to whom in an apparent agreement to market the genetic information.  SUNY Albany claims the VA was supposed to work with them...the VA now wants to do it alone.

Here's the bottom line...the VA is going to sell your genetic information.  Here's the link to the Times Union article...  (click here)

But here is the salient quote from this article:

"It would have been the world's largest resource of its kind and been the home to what scientists expect will be an indispensable source of information to researchers and others. UAlbany and the VA could sell access to that genetic data to drug companies, for example, who could then tailor treatments for diseases based on how people with particular genetic makeups have responded to them in the past. Ultimately, that access could have reaped tens of millions of dollars, or more."

Get the point?  The VA is going to sell your genetic information, with our without the help of SUNY Albany, and make a fortune doing it.

Larry Scott