1 Week, 7 Stories #80
If you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!
The Direct-to-Consumer genetic testing company 23andMe is facing tough times including a Chapter 11 filing under the US bankruptcy code. What will happen to the personal genetic and health information of its customers?
23andMe was founded in 2006 and I dived in shortly afterwards to have my genome sequenced by the company. I was working for a NFP biotech research organization, and I submitted spit kits to several companies and start-ups so we could compare results and see what this brave new world of genetic testing was all about. 23andMe is the second of the for-profit companies I have engaged with to be sold, one of the not-for-profit organizations folded, and the final two for-profits changed their business model considerably and I eventually cancelled my account with them.
As part of its information disclosure to 23andMe customers, Kroll Restructuring Administration LLC sent out an email with links to information including an extensive background to the case and a notice of the potential change of personal information from the bankruptcy court. None of the information sent out to customers suggested that any action was necessary by customers though many privacy experts have recommended deleting your personal information.
At the beginning of this week, 23andMe reached an agreement with TTAM Research Institute, a nonprofit public benefit corporation run by Anne Wojcicki, CEO and co-founder of 23andme to take over the company. Regeneron Pharmaceuticals had been considered the most likely to win the bidding but according to a TTAM media release its successful bid has been approved by the 23andMe Board of Directors though it still needs court approval. The media release also outlined how TTAM has made binding commitments to “adopt additional consumer protections and privacy safeguards to enhance protections for customer data and privacy”.
Case closed now? Maybe not. Apart from the pending court approval, it is not clear how TTAM will turn around the balance sheet of 23andMe or what existing customers can expect to see in the future. Right now, as new information and research comes to light on how genetics affect our health and well being, customers get updates on how their genetic profile fits into the picture. The problems facing 23andMe have also raised numerous question about the privacy of genetic data and those questions remain no matter what happens next in this saga.
I personally have confidence in how my data will be handled, but like the other 15 million or so customers I will be keeping an eye on what comes next.
In 2018 Google dropped the phrase “Don’t be evil” from the opening of its code of conduct. It eventually was added to the very end of the document where it now says.
And remember... don’t be evil, and if you see something that you think isn’t right – speak up!”
Well time to speak up.
Earlier this year Google dropped its commitment to not use artificial intelligence technology in weapons or surveillance. According to an article in The Conversation it came after the current White House administration revoked a Biden order to create a “safe, secure and trustworthy development and use of AI”. The company defended its AI decision by saying it had “over corrected” in some instances including when it withdrew from its involvement in the U.S. Air Force’s Project Maven in 2018. Google and its parent company Alphabet have been accused of firing employees who have protested the companies involvement in defence contracts and students from 120 universities have pledged to refuse work at Google or Amazon because of their contracts to provide computing services and infrastructure to the Government of Israel.
A paper from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said that companies such as Google and Microsoft have found the U.S. military to be a “willing partner”. Large tech firms have become so involved in military applications of their technologies that Time magazine said last year they have turned the war in Ukraine into an “AI War Lab”.
A paper in the March/April edition of Intereconomics: Review of European Economic Policy points out that large digital platforms are dominating global R & D and are cornering patents on new technology including artificial intelligence. They have managed to achieve a choke hold on the “digital-military-industrial-complex”. These companies have benefited from government and military technology (think of ARPANET which made the Internet possible) and were subsequently handed a free reign to develop them for their own profit.
As Big Tech and the military sectors become more dependent on each other and vast amounts of tax dollars are spent on companies using our data, we need reconsider what we give away every time we point, click, and download.
In the science fiction novel The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling a very different Industrial Revolution takes place in the mid 1800s after mechanical computers powered by steam engines change the world in unimaginable ways. The extensive use of steam power fueled largely by coal also starts to change the environment and most of the novel takes place during The Stink which was a thick smog made worse by hot temperatures.
The novel is a work of fiction (and arguably a kick start to the steampunk genre) but new research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences suggests that the real Industrial Revolution was already wrecking the climate. According to an article in Nature, today’s technology would have been able to link the burning of fossil fuels, the rise in CO2 emissions, and temperature rise as early as the 1860s. In the 1850s scientists were beginning to understand that carbon and CO2 could trap heat. The authors of the paper used historical data from these Victorian era scientists, new data from research on ice cores, and computer modelling, to pose what they call a ‘thought experiment’ to determine when scientists would have been able to realise “human-caused temperature fingerprints” had they possessed better tool.
I think I have the essence of my next short story!
Regular readers of this newsletter probably know that I like my coffee, especially first thing in the morning while catching up on the news.
A new study in the Journal of Nutrition has handed me a new reason to stick with my coffee habit. Better yet, a media release from Tufts University points out that it is my favourite black coffee that is associated with a 14% lower risk of mortality compared to no coffee consumption. The link was not seen in coffee with high amounts of added sugar or saturated fat. A separate study published in May in Nutrition, Metabolism, and Cardiovascular Diseases focused on adults with prediabetes, but seems to have arrived at similar results associated with total amount of coffee, sugar-free coffee, and caffeinated coffee consumption. Women fare even better when it comes to links between coffee and healthy aging. A New York Times article this month says that in a long-term study of 47,000 female nurses that began in the 1970s there was a lower risk of certain chronic diseases, and “healthy aging” associated with caffeine consumption.
Canadians drink an average of 2.8 cups of coffee per day and spend about $35.21 per month on coffee. The study found that at least one cup per day was associated with a 16% lower risk and that two or three cups a day to upped the number to a 17% lower risk.
Now the bad news. According to Dr. Roger Norton in this video, coffee prices are on the rise and are going to continue to rise. Demand is up and supplies are down and the market is making the decisions.
Drink up while you can!
The Strait of Hormuz has Iran on one side and the UAE and Oman on the other. It connects the Persian Gulf to the open sea. It is wide and deep enough to handle the largest oil tankers and in a post this week the U.S. Energy Information Administration said it is one of the world’s most important oil chokepoints ( narrow shipping channels that are critical to global energy security). Even a temporary hold up in the region will delay oil supplies and raise shipping costs.
As tensions in the Middle East escalate, the shipping lane is in increasing danger and this week two giant oil tankers collided and caught fire, adding to concerns. The Front Eagle, a 335-meter (1,000 foot) supertanker and a smaller vessel collided on Tuesday. According to Al Jazeera, the incident was not related to the war between Iran and Israel and was a “navigational” incident. Last week the UK Maritime Trade Operations issued a warning of increased electronic interference causing problems for vessels to report their position which could lead to more ‘navigational incidents’. (the UKMTO site also has a good interactive map of maritime incidents and warnings)
About a third of global oil supplies and a significant amount of LNG pass through the Strait and if the situation continues to deteriorate, we could see widespread energy disruption.
Deutsche Welle wrote this week that the waterway is only 33 km (21 mi) wide at its narrowest point making it a crowded passage open to disruption. The article also said shippers are tightening security or canceling routes.
We are already feeling the effects on gasoline prices according to GasBuddy which tracks gasoline prices and globally, oil prices jumped as soon as Israel and Iran began their open conflict. Keep your eyes on the news and your mouse hovering over your investments.
Even before he took on the role of Secretary of Health and Human Services in the United States, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was vocal about wanting to see artificial dyes removed from food products. While he was still being considered for the job, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration decided to ban Red No. 3 dye in food and medications. Red 3 is what gives your favourite cupcake or Skittles, a bright, cherry-red colour. Another dye, Red 40 is found in 36,000 food products in the U.S., and your kid’s bowl of Fruit Loops contains Yellow 5, Yellow 6, Green 2, and Blue 1. The list goes on.
RFK’s new job is starting to have an impact without having to pass more regulations. This week Kraft Heinz said it would remove all artificial colours in U.S. products by 2027 and would not be producing any new products containing “Food, Drug, and Cosmetic colors” (the official designation). The company said it would replace the dyes with natural colouring, create new colours or shades, or simply remove some colours.
In April, PepsiCo said it would “accelerate” its transition to natural ingredients to replace artificial colours, Tyson Foods is moving toward total removal of synthetic dyes, and following an investigation by the Attorney General of Texas, General Mills has agreed to remove artificial dyes from its products.
A Washington Post story this week quotes Consumer Reports’ director of food policy as saying we may notice a “slight change in the color of some products, but it would be one of those situations where you really have to be looking for it.”
Evidence of the harmful effects of food dyes is still inconclusive and here in Canada we are somewhat ahead of the U.S. in managing how they are used.
As we are often reminded, “check the label” before you buy.
Looking for some peace and quiet, a place to escape the apocalypse, or just a chance to unplug from the pace of life in the 21st century?
How about your very own private island?
For £5.5 million (a lot in any currency, but about $10 million Canadian) Shuna Island off the west coast of Scotland is yours – castle and sheep included. Such a deal doesn’t come around often – the last time the island came up for sale was 80 years ago when it was bought by Viscountess Selby who passed away in 2023.
According to the real estate listing you will also get eight residential properties and “1,110 acres with 81 acres of permanent pasture, 640 acres of rough grazing, and over 300 acres of native woodland and foreshore”. The settled history goes back 9,000 years and there are Stone Age burial mounds and Iron Ages sites on the island which The Guardian once called an “overlooked jewel”.
Looking for something closer to home? Private Islands Inc has lots to choose from to buy or to rent right here in Canada.
Happy island hunting!
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I have a series of short stories based on Chris de Burgh’s 1975 album Spanish Train and Other Stories. The collection is now complete, and you can find them here on Substack.