Consumers can collect their own DNA using cheek swabs, which they mail to the Oulu-based company Genecodebook. After testing is carried out in Estonia, results can be accessed on the company’s website with a password. The service costs around 100 euros per test.
"The swab is the most important tool. The sample is taken from inside the cheek with eight broad strokes,” explains managing director Niina Saarinen.
Genecodebook says it plans to expand its test selection in the future. In five years’ time, the service may even include the possibility of decoding a person’s entire genetic sequence, according to the company.
Research Professor Helena Kääriäinen of the National Institute for Health and Welfare (THL), a specialist in hereditary diseases, is sceptical about this commercial enterprise. She told YLE that reputable medical tests do not need to be marketed online.