Nov 8, 2021 - Inside 23andMe

Updates to Improve our Research Consent

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We’re excited to share our refreshed Research Consent document that governs how 23andMe conducts Research. Although we have not changed our research program or how we use participants’ data, we reorganized the content of the Research Consent and greatly simplified the language. We made these updates for two reasons:

To be in compliance with updated research regulations:

Our revisions align with updates to a federal regulation known as the Common Rule, which governs how human subjects research is conducted in the United States. The updated Common Rule aims to make consents more clear and easier to read, and to better help people make decisions about research participation. Our revised Research Consent is in compliance with the current version of the Common Rule.

To respond to customer feedback:

We recently asked our customers for feedback on our Research Consent. Based on their feedback we made the following changes:

  1. We shortened the Key Information Summary at the top of the document.
  2. We highlighted topics most important to our customers in the Key Information Summary 
  3. We simplified the language throughout the Research Consent. 
  4. We added detailed information about how participant data contributes to 23andMe Research.

If you look at the new consent, you may notice the updated Key Information Summary, the more concise and simple language, and the real-world examples of research discoveries made possible by participants who shared their information. We believe that the new version will enable our customers to more easily find information that may help them decide whether or not to participate in 23andMe Research.

We hope you see these changes as improvements and can find within the document the answers to your questions about 23andMe Research.

If you have questions about these revisions you can contact the 23andMe Research Team at hpa@23andMe.com.

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