Yahoo Japan Is Selling A Genetic Test Kit

post from Ubergizmo on 02 November 2012 04:33:24 PM. © Ubergizmo

Yahoo, a massive internet giant trying to recreate old glories, is looking for new markets to get in to, because the search-and-homepage game isn’t the most pluralistic market. Why not medical data? Yahoo Japan will start selling a genetic testing kit next month directly to users. It’s going to cost about 30,000 yen ($370) and you’ve got to mail your spit to a testing lab, but in exchange you’ll get hard data on your genetic suseptability to several diseases like diabetes. Apparently, Yahoo Japan isn’t doing the data for the project, only marketing the kit. But they’re not selling the kit for your health: at some point they’re going to want to enter the health-care data market.