> People are especially sensitive about their DNA since they think pharma companies can somehow develop new expensive drugs just by looking at it.
That's not why people are sensitive about their DNA. It's more to do with the fact that health insurance companies could know if they are particularly susceptible to a myriad of mendelian (gene-linked) diseases and disorders "just by looking at it". Another reason to be sensitive about DNA- if my brother's DNA was found at a crime scene and my DNA was in a database like 23andMe, police could start going after my family members as suspects. This has happened.
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/amp/show/a-father-took-an-at-ho...