Bankruptcy Court Can't Sell Your DNA Without Written Consent, Effective Immediately

If you’ve ever sent off a swab or spit sample to one of those genetic testing companies, you know that the fine print about what happens to your data can be murky. The Don’t Sell My DNA Act steps in to clarify one specific—and potentially alarming—scenario: what happens to your genetic information if the company holding it goes bankrupt.

This bill focuses squarely on amending Title 11 of the U.S. Code, which governs bankruptcy. Simply put, it ensures that your genetic data doesn't get treated like just another piece of inventory, like office furniture or software licenses, that a court-appointed trustee can sell off to the highest bidder to pay creditors. It explicitly adds "genetic information" to the legal definitions within the bankruptcy code, using the same robust definition found in the existing Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 (GINA).

Your DNA Is Not a Distressed Asset

The core protection is straightforward: under Section 363 of the revised law, a bankruptcy court cannot approve the sale or lease of personally identifiable information that includes genetic data unless every single person whose DNA is involved gives their written consent after the bankruptcy case has officially begun. That’s a huge deal. It means even if a company’s entire business model was based on selling genetic data, that data cannot be liquidated as an asset unless every customer signs off on it individually.

Think about the practical impact: If a large genetic testing company files for Chapter 11, the trustee can’t just bundle up the DNA database and sell it to a pharmaceutical company or a data broker. This provision effectively walls off your most personal data from the fire sale, giving you ultimate control over its commercial use, even when the company you trusted is insolvent. Furthermore, the bill requires mandatory, actual written notice to all affected individuals before any use, sale, or lease of their genetic data can even be considered.

The Cleanup Crew: Mandatory Deletion

What happens to the genetic data that isn't sold because people didn't consent? The bill mandates that any genetic information remaining in the bankruptcy estate that wasn't sold or leased under the new strict rules must be deleted. And this isn't just hitting the delete key. The trustee or debtor in possession must use court-approved methods, which can include following the stringent security guidelines set by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for media sanitization. This provision ensures that sensitive data doesn't just linger in old servers, waiting for a future security breach or sale.

Immediate Impact and Implementation Hurdles

The protections kick in the day the bill is signed, and here’s the kicker: they apply immediately to all pending bankruptcy cases, not just new ones. This means any current bankruptcy proceedings involving companies with large genetic datasets must immediately comply with these new consent and deletion requirements.

While this is a win for privacy, it does create some procedural complexity for the people running the bankruptcy. Requiring unanimous consent from potentially millions of customers is a massive administrative hurdle that could slow down the liquidation process significantly. For bankruptcy trustees and potential buyers of company assets, this bill places a clear, high barrier on the commercial use of genetic data, making it essentially unsellable without a massive, coordinated effort to secure individual permission. However, for the average person who just wants to ensure their genetic blueprint isn't sold off in a court-ordered auction, this bill is a strong, necessary safeguard.