Abstract, complex medical reports are the new new financial derivatives.

See the New York Times today: How Washington Abetted the Bank Job

…Complexity was what made it possible [for banks] to hide debt, avoid capital requirements and evade taxes. Thus the [regulatory agency] statement said that banks should document their reasons for concluding that each complex instrument developed and sold would be used for a legitimate purpose and not to evade the law. It also said that financial institutions should ensure that the buyers of complex instruments understood how they worked and what risks they entailed.

The financial industry would have none of that. It bombarded the agencies with comments denouncing the proposal. Banks did not want the responsibility of explaining to customers the risks inherent in these instruments. And, while banks couldn’t say it directly, how they could document that products that were valuable specifically because they could get around laws were not being bought for that purpose?

Replace a few words…

…Complexity was what made it possible [for labs] to hide risk, avoid public health regulations, and evade duty. Thus the [regulatory agency] statement said that labs should document their reasons for concluding that each complex instrument developed and sold would be used for a legitimate purpose and not to evade the law. It also said that genomic institutions should ensure that the buyers of complex instruments understood how they worked and what risks they entailed.

The genomic industry would have none of that. It bombarded the agencies with comments denouncing the proposal. Labs did not want the responsibility of explaining to customers the risks inherent in these instruments. And, while labs couldn’t say it directly, how they could document that products that were valuable specifically because they could get around laws were not being bought for that purpose?

Now consider the 23andMe Terms of Service:

3. Description of What the Services Are and Are Not: 23andMe Service Is For Research and Educational Use Only. We Do Not Provide Medical Advice, And The Services Cannot Be Used For Health Ascertainment or Disease Purposes

Still waiting from an opinion from “top genomics lawyer” Dan Vorhaus. I guess every aspiring Enron needs an aspiring Arthur Andersen? It’s a shame, too. The stakes are so low. I mean, if you’re going to be dishonest, why not go all the way? Arbitrage the California power grid. Now that took some balls. I can appreciate that. Spit parties and Oprah? That’s just depressing.