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Very trendy in recent years, DNA tests for “recreational use” will soon be limited in France. Companies in the sector now require delivery addresses outside the country.
DNA tests – these famous kits used to know one’s origins or to assess one’s risks in the face of a disease – would they be doomed to disappear on the French market? Probably, according to information from our colleagues at Parisian. Some large companies would no longer accept to deliver the tests in France.
More deliveries in France
In principle prohibited from purchase in France, but until then accessible on many sites, DNA tests have been talked about a lot in recent years.
And for good reason: using a simple saliva sample, they make it possible to decipher an individual’s genetic heritage, the percentages of belonging to different ethnic groups or the risks of developing a particular disease.
But under their playful facets, these tests are very supervised in France: they can only be prescribed by a geneticist or a doctor. Thus, any DNA test carried out in France outside this framework is prohibited and can be punished with a fine of 3750 euros.
This has not prevented certain companies in the sector, such as MyHeritage, 23AndMe or My Ancestry, from taking full advantage of the “legal vacuum” surrounding this profitable business. At least until today: some companies have recently stopped their deliveries on the territory.
“It had to happen eventually. They took advantage of a legal vacuum. But they clearly knew they were outlaws“, assures the genealogist Loïc Duchamp in the columns of the Parisian.
Only two (rare) companies still agree to deliver their kits in France.
A decision that displeases the associations
Stopping test deliveries is not to everyone’s taste. Several associations for the defense of the right to know one’s origins are accusing the blow.
“For people born under X or abandoned, the arrival of these tests has been a huge relief“, underlines Arthur Kermalvezen, of the association Origines.