Legal notice

Consent Policy


Consent to donate urine and/or vaginal swab(s), and/or fecal swab(s) for the explicit purpose of identifying microbes including bacteria, viruses and fungi including yeasts.


By agreeing to these terms you understand that:

  • You are voluntarily donating urine and/or a vaginal swab and/or a fecal swab sample(s).

  • The sample that you provide will be analysed in our SBL laboratory for the explicit purposes of identify microbes and microbiomes present in the donated samples.

  • This may include the detection of bacteria, viruses or other species causing sexually transmitted diseases.

  • Your urine and/or swab samples and/or any derivatives will be either destroyed during the process of analysis or, when sufficient sample is provided to allow re-sampling, will be held by the lab for no longer than 1 month before being destroyed.

  • Tota (a trading name of The Metagenomic Testing Company Ltd) will not specifically analyse your personal DNA or genome.

  • Results of our analyses will be made available to you through a secure website hosted by SBL.

  • It is the account holder’s responsibility to maintain, and not share, appropriately secure passwords that control access to this website.

  • Tota will not directly provide you with any interpretation, speculation or medical advice regarding results obtained from your sample.

  • Tota is not obliged to organise any necessary follow-up treatment.

  • Arrangement for treatment, as deemed necessary, should be made between the donor and an independent GP/Healthcare Practitioner/Pharmacist who are under no obligation to use our data to guide therapy.

  • Tota is not liable for any consequences arising from failure to identify a specific pathogen or failure of any treatment program instigated by a GP/Healthcare Practitioner/Pharmacist.

  • Data and medical records collected as part of the study can be viewed by restricted individuals at Tota and made be made available to relevant regulatory authorities upon request.

  • Where possible personal information is removed to protect individual donor identities.

  • You agree that following completion of the initial investigation and analysis of the sample you provide, anonymised samples and data may kept and used for future research and development purposes.

  • You will not be identified in any research publications that may arise from these studies.

  • Where the donor is a minor, or requires additional support, a guardian will be required to give consent on behalf of the donor.

  • We may contact you in future to request non-obligatory follow-up information to assess the impact of our testing on your long-term health.