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Statements posted on this blog represent the views of individual authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the Center for Law Science & Innovation (which does not take positions on policy issues) or of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law or Arizona State University.

23andMe… for your dog?

This article was written by Caroline Saunders. Saunders is a 3L at the Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law and Articles Editor of Jurimetrics: The Journal of Law, Science, and Technology.

As technology advances at an unprecedented rate, startups and venture capitalists are scrambling to get involved with the next best tech trend. These purveyors of up-and-coming technology have recently taken notice of the latest fad: pet tech.

The pet industry is booming; consumers spending about $66.75 billion last year.1 As a result, techies and investors are making sure that Fido is not left out of the IoT fun. For example, in 2015, the Boyko brothers teamed up with Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine and Spencer Wells to found the canine genetics startup, Embark Veterinary Inc.2

Embark is not the first company to offer dog DNA testing, but with a database of over 200,000 genetic markers, it rightfully touts itself as the world leader in dog genetics.3 The company’s impressive doggy databank was built from nearly a decade of research, testing village dogs and thousands of samples from the Cornell Veterinary Biobank.4

Embark’s business model, as well as its sample collection and testing procedure, closely resembles its human counterpart, 23andME.5 For about $200, a consumer can mail in a dog’s saliva swab, and Embark will test the sample against its massive database to determine Duke’s breed ancestry, traits, and risk of developing certain genetic health conditions.6 Unlike 23andMe, the FDA has not elected to enforce regulations for animal genetic tests, so Embark and its competitors can roam regulation-free for the time being.7

1 Pet Industry Market Size & Ownership Statistics, Am. Pet Products Ass’n.
2 Matt Weinstein, DOGGY DNA: Unique startup has roots at Cornell, Ithaca J.
Embark Dog DNA Test – Our Story, Embark Dog DNA Test; Dog DNA Test reviews and comparisons, Dog Identifier.
4 Weinstein, supra note 2.
5 Laura Entis, Venture Capitalists Are Going Barking Mad for Pet Startups, Fortune.
6 Embark Dog DNA Test.
7 Arielle Duhaime-Ross, Doggie DNA startup wants to learn about human diseases from dog drool, Ithaca J.