If you live in the States of New York or Maryland
New York
New York State law requires that all specimens obtained within New York State be tested by a laboratory that holds a New York State clinical laboratory permit, if the test has any health-related aspects at all. The law specifically forbids any lab that doesn’t have that permit from “accepting specimens from New York state.” Although our tests are for informational and entertainment purposes only, since our lab is outside of New York we have elected to abide by these laws to be on the safe side.
Now there’s nothing in the law that says you can’t buy a DNA test kit if you live in New York. And the law doesn’t stop any company from shipping the kit to you in New York. So, you can order it and receive it in New York.
But the law does say you can’t provide the specimen in New York and have it tested by a lab that doesn’t have that New York permit. So, to be legal, you have to cross the border into New Jersey or Connecticut or anywhere else outside the state and collect your sample there.
And you can’t send it in from New York and have it tested outside even if you spit into the tube in New Jersey or Connecticut. Our policy is that any sample arriving in a package postmarked New York is discarded, so that it won’t run afoul of New York law.
So, you have to collect your specimen and send it from outside New York State.
Maryland
The law there doesn’t let Maryland residents buy direct-to-consumer tests of any kind if they have health aspects. Although our tests are for informational and entertainment purposes only, since our lab is outside of Maryland we have elected to abide by these laws to be on the safe side.
We have elected to exclude purchases from a Maryland address and we do not ship kits to Maryland either. Our policy is that any sample arriving in a package postmarked Maryland is also discarded, so that it won’t run afoul of Maryland law.
You have to purchase a kit outside the state of Maryland, collect your specimen and mail it back to us from an address outside of Maryland State.