Baltimore Sun – by Jeff Barker
Gone are the days when sports-team giveaways were limited to T-shirts, bobbleheads, free-sandwich coupons and the like.
The Ravens on Sunday are adopting a unique approach: The tens of thousands of fans entering M&T Bank Stadium for the NFL team’s home opener against the Cleveland Browns will receive free DNA test kits.
It’s an approach stretching the usual giveaway model, and likely to generate fan buzz. The club calls it “one of the most innovative events a partner has ever spearheaded.”
It also contains an element of public-relations risk: The value of direct-to-consumer genetic testing is the subject of scientific debate.
“It can be very useful but in many other cases we just don’t know enough,” said Alan Shuldiner, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “I think it can be very deceptive. I sometimes call it ‘snake oil genomics.’ ”
Fans who choose to participate can learn about their genetic makeup, says Orig3n, the Boston-based biotech firm sponsoring the event. The procedure begins when fans swab the inside of their cheek, drop the sample into a stadium bin and register with the company online.
The assessment offers “insight into your mind, body and health,” a company spokeswoman said.
Promotional material prepared for the event bears the logos of the company and the Ravens. It depicts a DNA strand with the message: “Purple and Black are in your genes — now find out what else is.”
Orig3n is offering — for free — a test of four genes. These include the ACTN3 gene, which the firm says can yield information on whether a person “is likely to have enhanced performance in power and sprint activities or is considered normal.”
Also being tested is a gene the company says can help predict an increased risk of low levels of Vitamin D. From the test, fans can learn if they are “generally predisposed” to have difficulty metabolizing Vitamin D well, said Kate Blanchard, Orig3n’s chief operating officer and founder.
The company offers more extensive tests for up to $149.
“All DNA test results are encrypted and sent via a smartphone app,” the company said. “We use stringent security standards to ensure all information is protected.”
Direct-to-consumer genetic testing is an emerging — and controversial — industry.
“The general public has a thirst to understand the genetic makeup,” said Shuldiner, the Maryland professor. The problem, he said, comes when people put too much stock in sweeping conclusions containing “half-truths” He used the Vitamin D gene as an example.
“A Ravens fan could get a genetic test and results show you’ve got this gene that says you are more likely to have good Vitamin D levels. The person will be mis-served, and think he has a gene that protects him from that,” Shuldiner said.
Blanchard countered that Orig3n’s tests can provide valuable insight.
“DNA technology is very new. It wasn’t that long ago that the genome was sequenced,” she said. “Before this you would have to go to a genetic counselor to get your personal DNA background.
“There will always be skeptics when any new technology comes to market but it’s important to look at what is available to us now in the 21st century.”
Blanchard called DNA “one of many important things you can know about yourself, no different than a scale to measure your weight or a cuff to measure your blood pressure.”
Orig3n, founded in 2014, also collects blood samples from events around the country, and uses the cells for regenerative medicine research.
Orig3n has a sponsorship with one other NFL team, the San Francisco 49ers. But the company and the Ravens said Sunday’s DNA test giveaway is new.
“One of our sales folks reached out to Orig3n and talked about them doing a deal here,” said Kevin Rochlitz, the Ravens’ senior vice president of corporate sales and business development.
“They’re trying to enhance the fan experience at our home games. It’s a tool for consumers to have better access to information about their bodies. This is a good company.”
Orig3n only recently began sponsoring the Ravens — it set up an informational booth during the preseason — joining such other team partners as M&T Bank, Papa John’s pizza, the Maryland Lottery and Fuze.
“Naturally, NFL football presents an incredible opportunity for any sponsor, let alone a company like Orig3n, who is still relatively young and still looking to establish their brand with consumers,” T.J. Brightman, president of A. Bright Idea, a public relations and marketing firm with offices in Bel Air and Sonoma, Calif.
“It’s the new normal and the world we live in,” Brightman said. “People are more educated about their health, live busy lives and on the go. There aren’t too many places you can directly engage 70,000 people for a one-day event.”
Neither the team nor the company indicated that Ravens players would be doing DNA testing.
“This is something that is more based to our fans,” Rochlitz said. “Some of our staff internally has been doing it.”
The Ravens are giving away free lanyards to fans on Sunday to hold their tickets.
“All fans love giveaways,” said Bob Dorfman, the executive creative director at Baker Street Advertising in San Francisco.
“And with bobbleheads, T-shirts & caps becoming so commonplace, teams are always looking for new ways to capture the fancy of the crowd,” Dorfman said. “Though I’m not sure a free DNA test would get me to go to a 49ers game.”
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-ravens-dna-testing-20170913-story.html
EVERYONE should boycott the NFL. Who in their right mind would give a private company their DNA?
How much would you like to bet their DNA will end up in a law enforcement database?
Two days ago, it was announced that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration plans to bring back voluntary surveys testing for drugs at DUI roadblocks. (http://thenewspaper.com/news/62/6295.asp)
Whether its ‘voluntarily’ or not, the Feds are creating a huge database on everyone.
EVERYTHING regarding the FEDERAL CORPORATION OF THE USA is voluntary, assuming you have not “volunteered” to be a 14th Amendment CITIZEN/VESSEL IN ADMIRALTY COMMERCE via the BERTH CERTIFICATE; have not “volunteered” to contract with THEM via the SS#, the DRIVER’S LICENSE, the filing of financial records with their BANKING INSTITUTIONS or the INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE, talking to POLICY ENFORCERS or any of the other myriad ways the ignorant sheep get suckered into CONTRACT resulting in LEGAL LATCHES upon themselves.
Stop volunteering ANYTHING to these leeches and learn how to extricate yourself from their world and their enslavement (brought upon us all via fraud, deception and our own ignorance).
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/04/baby.dna.government/index.html
Good point, Mary;
I neglected to mention one of the most egregious CONTRACTS we “voluntarily” enter into with the CORPORATION: the MARRIAGE LICENSE, which is in fact considered a “CORPORATE MERGER” of the husband’s STRAWMAN TRUST AND THE WIFE’s. This not only grants the CORPORATION jurisdiction over your marital union, but institutes the LATCH of granting them TRUSTEESHIP over the “product of the CORPORATE MERGER” (your children).
Absolutely evil, and if more people knew about this scam, we would need the hemp rope sooner and in larger quantities.
my mantra for years has been ‘home births…home schooling’ for a variety of reasons
As well. When you have children, they too become wards of the state / USA corporation/banking system through their birth certificate instead of a “natural person
“
I think about the time they force me to give my DNA
is the day I’m the F outa here!
and yes I agree with you on the Data Base
im kinda at the point where if a pig comes at me with a swab for my mouth,, i got a 1911 swab for his …Like Doc Holiday said..say when
http://www.cnn.com/2010/HEALTH/02/04/baby.dna.government/index.html
“It can be very useful but in many other cases we just don’t know enough,” said Alan Shuldiner, a professor at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “I think it can be very deceptive. I sometimes call it ‘snake oil genomics.’ ” YEPPER, LIKE PUTTING THE RESULTS A WORLD WIDE DATA BASE FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT AND GOVERNMENT, ALSO SELLING THE DNA FOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT PURPOSES ETC. ANYONE WHO DOES THIS HASN’T REALLY THOUGHT OUT THE RAMIFICATIONS WHICH IS ON PAR IF NOT WORSE THAN GIVING ALL YOUR DEMOGRAPHIC INFORMATION TO FACEBOOK. DNA TESTING HAS BECOME SO INVASIVE, THEY CAN NOW DETERMINE WHAT YOU LOOK LIKE, WHO YOU ARE RELATED TO FOR TRACKING PURPOSES, USE IT FOR DESIGNER DRUGS OR DESIGNER DIRECTED POISONS/VACCINES ETC,AND THE LIST GOES ON AND ON. PERSONALLY, I AM ADVERSE TO GIVING “THEM ” ANY MORE INFORMATION THAN THEY ALREADY HAVE.
If you have ever had blood drawn..’.they’ have your DNA…… They are monitoring their experiments
“It’s the new normal and the world we live in,” Brightman said.”
It’s NOT normal, and intelligent people will NEVER accept it as such.
And the world YOU live in (Matrix) is not OUR (intelligent people) world… by any stretch of the imagination, jewb#tch.
“People are more educated about their health,” eh? Then why do this in Baltimore, which as one of the worst education systems in the US? Because Baltimore is mostly black, maybe? And maybe the US govt. wants more black DNA so they can screw blacks even more, to incite more BLM hatred BS? (and does George Soros own Orig3n”)
The Ravens, eh? As Edgar Allen Poe once said, “Nevermore!”
Yep Baltimore is a poor black city which makes it a prime location for experimentation however I doubt many blacks there are paying the high cost to attend the game.
Ever since I first saw ads for 23andMe, Ancestry.com, etc., I’ve held the strong suspicion that those companies were a front for a government DNA collection scheme.
Even if that’s not the case, only a total idiot would voluntarily provide his DNA to anyone (except for emergency medical reasons).
You should read their terms of use and you’ll find you are correct.
The Jewish Operated Organ Transplant Black Market Criminal Cartel must need some new “voluntary” organ donors.
It’s easier for the Top 0.001% to have a successful transplant when the “donor” is genetically pre-matched.
And then. “Can you believe it?” Someone gets in a car accident.
It’s a perfect genetic match.
And the recipient just happens to be in town.
Or the donor wins a free trip to “wherever” and has the “accident” there.
I guess they’re running out of Haitian organ donor “volunteers”.
It’s a lucrative global business primarily operated out of Israel.
I’m a retired MD. I know. But I was young. What can I say.
Never, and I mean never, volunteer to be an organ donor.
Put that explicitly in your wallet attached to your ID and in your will.
However.
If you morally feel that decision is possibly hurting other good honest people. And since they are conning, oops, I mean coercing your traumatized family, into giving your organs away for FREE.
Insist that all hospital, pharmacy, physicians and organizations charge NOTHING to any one for the transplant. Not insurance. Not Medicare, Medicaid or Obamacare. And specifically no Private Payers.
It should all be FREE just like they’re asking the bereaved donors family to do. “Hurry up and decide” about organ donation or it’ll be too late. Some of these people are like vultures when pressuring the families into a hasty decision.
I’ve watched it happen with my own eyes.
It sounds pretty cynical, I know, so please forgive me.
I’m just trying to paint a real picture of the “volunteer” organ donor system racket.
I am a retired RN. I worked at University of Illinois Hospital when this occurred: https://www.thefreelibrary.com/University+of+Illinois%2c+Chicago+settles+lawsuit+alleging+liver…-a0129632547 …. the surgeon was retaliated against…sent off to Peoria …….. the DNA collection is indeed about ‘donor matches’ but also a lot more….. and one thing I want people to know is (with few exceptions) those donors are technically alive until the organ(s) are removed
Yeah. This event is not happening.
Mary. ..link is broken. Page not found. Can you repost it, please?
https://www.thefreelibrary.com/University+of+Illinois%2c+Chicago+settles+lawsuit+alleging+liver…-a0129632547
Thanks so much. That’s some deep stuff. Imagine how it’s happening elsewhere, undisclosed.
.