Have you ever taken a DNA test?

Sassycakes

Sassycakes

SF VIP
Location
Pennsylvania
I have been wanting to do a DNA test and so has my sister. Can anyone say if they have done one and which one they would recommend?
 

No. I'm mildly curious, because of a family rumor.

But the way I understand it, more info is available on the male side. Being female, I wouldn't get any info about my father's side -- whereas my brother would get info about both parents' ancestry.

Not sure if that's true. I don't think I'd shell out money for this anyway.
 
NorthernLight said:
No. I'm mildly curious, because of a family rumor.

But the way I understand it, more info is available on the male side. Being female, I wouldn't get any info about my father's side -- whereas my brother would get info about both parents' ancestry.

Not sure if that's true. I don't think I'd shell out money for this anyway.
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with ancestry , you get info on both sides .. whether you are male or female .
 
National Geographic Society hosted a survey some years ago. The objective was to tabulate the 'deep ancestry' origins of participants DNA. We had our choice of learning either our father or mother's ancestral origins.....or both if we paid twice the fee. I opted to learn the origins of my father's side of our family. No surprises: British Isles and Scandinavian Peninsula. Our name is Anglo Saxon (it's mentioned in the Domesday book) and our earliest known ancestor arrived in America from England in the late 1600's. Also, Viking visitors and settlers left a lot of their genetic information in the British gene pool.
 
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Sassycakes said:
I have been wanting to do a DNA test and so has my sister. Can anyone say if they have done one and which one they would recommend?
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It depends on what you're looking for. For genealogy purposes, Ancestry.com is the winner hands down due to the volume of people who have tested there and their algorithms that actually identify possible ancestors several generations back.

For surname testing for males, FamilyTreeDNA.com has y-DNA testing. They also do mtDNA for maternal lines but that's not very useful yet because there are so few people in the test pool.

If you're of UK descent, LivingDNA is best. It shows the breakdown of UK regions.
 
NorthernLight said:
No. I'm mildly curious, because of a family rumor.

But the way I understand it, more info is available on the male side. Being female, I wouldn't get any info about my father's side -- whereas my brother would get info about both parents' ancestry.

Not sure if that's true. I don't think I'd shell out money for this anyway.
Click to expand...

There are three types of tests. Snippet of an Ancestry.com article.

  • Y-DNA testing can be used by people with a Y chromosome to research their 'patrilineal' ancestry—their ancestry through their male line. But not everyone has a Y chromosome. The Y chromosome is passed directly from a person's biological father, who inherited it from his biological father, and so on. This makes the Y chromosome useful for tracing back your biological father's male line. It also provides supporting evidence that someone is related to you.

  • Mitochondrial DNA testing (mtDNA testing) traces a person's matrilineal (mother's female) ancestry using the DNA in his or her mitochondria.

  • Unlike mitochondrial DNA testing and Y-DNA testing, autosomal DNA testing analyzes most of your DNA that comes from both your parents—the 22 pairs of chromosomes that make up your autosomes. The information in these chromosomes can help find recent and distant relatives, as well as find where your ancestors lived 500 to 1000 or more years ago. Autosomal DNA testing is much more information-rich than either Y-DNA or mtDNA tests since it can reveal more about your ethnicity and who you are related to.
 
I haven't had a DNA test and I don't intend to have one. This is a slippery slope. Do you care who has your personal information? What guarantee do you have that it will stay confidential? I suggest you look into this further before you send off your DNA. If you don't care who sees it, what they do with it, or what becomes of it, you're good to go.

Your Genetic Data Isn't Safe - CR says better protections are needed for the intimate data you share when you take a direct-to-consumer genetic test. > https://www.consumerreports.org/hea...rect-to-consumer-genetic-testing-a1009742549/

Excerpts from the article -

"Many people might not have a clear understanding of what happens to their personal genetic data after they mail a tube of spit to a private company for analysis. In a new white paper (PDF) published today, Consumer Reports’ privacy experts argue that part of the reason for this uncertainty is a gap in the regulatory framework surrounding consumers’ genetic data privacy.

Right now, companies write their own privacy policies that consumers agree to when they buy a test. But few laws regulate what companies must do to keep your data private and secure.

A few existing laws regulate some aspects of genetic privacy.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prevents employers from discriminating against you on the basis of your genetic information. But it doesn’t say anything about what a third-party DTC genetic testing company can do with the information it collects about you.

Although the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) does apply to the results of genetic tests administered by your doctor or another healthcare provider, it doesn’t apply to DTC genetic testing companies.

Currently, however, no federal law directly addresses consumer privacy issues resulting from DTC genetic testing.

That means the companies that provide these services have the freedom to control what happens to a consumer’s genetic information once they receive it, Brookman says. Some companies also encourage consumers to provide additional sensitive family or health information in order to maximize the possible insights from the genetic tests being offered.

That means the companies that provide these services have the freedom to control what happens to a consumer’s genetic information once they receive it, Brookman says. Some companies also encourage consumers to provide additional sensitive family or health information in order to maximize the possible insights from the genetic tests being offered.

In one 2018 study of DTC genetic testing companies’ privacy policies, Vanderbilt University researchers found that 71 percent of companies used consumer information internally for purposes other than providing the results to consumers. Sixty-two percent said they use data for internal research and development, while 78 percent said they provided genetic information to third parties in de-identified or aggregate forms without additional consumer consent.

There are also few laws regulating how consumers’ genetic data should be stored and protected by the companies that collect it, and genetic testing companies have experienced data breaches. For example, the DTC genetic testing company MyHeritage was hacked in 2018, and users’ emails and scrambled passwords were stolen. Their DNA information wasn’t stolen, but such a breach is certainly possible, CR experts say.

Privacy experts say there are some key concerns. One is that your genetic information could be used in underwriting insurance policies. It can’t be used for health insurance, thanks to the ACA, but—except in Florida where this practice was recently prohibited—it could theoretically be used to determine life, long-term care, or disability insurance plans.

Your genetic information could also potentially be used against you in a court case. If you were to seek damages for a work-related injury, for example, a company might try to use information from your genome to point to potential other causes for your symptoms. Law enforcement agencies have used genetic data to identify criminal suspects through their blood relatives."

Bella ✌️
 
I've done both Ancestry and 23 and me. For family tree and finding relatives, Ancestry is the best. I happen to be descended from pioneer LDS people (I am not now, nor have I ever been an LDS member) so their family search site has been of use to me.

Ancestry keeps finding links to other people from those already on my family tree so my tree continues to grow without me doing anything.
 
23 and Me. This is the same one my DD used. So far I have a bunch of 3rd or 4th cousins. Only one who I know. No surprises. There was the potential for them.
 
Confirmed what I already knew. Paternal Irish and maternal Swedish/Norwegian. The only surprise were some previously unknown 2nd and 3rd cousins due to some extramarital hanky-panky in my G-grandparents generation, Ha!
 
I always chuckle when I think of the uproar and outrage when the govt. wanted a DNA data bank. Now, folks pay good money to enter their info into a DNA data bank. :) Not saying it's true, but, what if a place like ancestry dot com or any of the others out there are a secret govt run outfit? :unsure: You know.... to create a DNA data bank.
 
Bella said:
I haven't had a DNA test and I don't intend to have one. This is a slippery slope. Do you care who has your personal information? What guarantee do you have that it will stay confidential? I suggest you look into this further before you send off your DNA. If you don't care who sees it, what they do with it, or what becomes of it, you're good to go.

Your Genetic Data Isn't Safe - CR says better protections are needed for the intimate data you share when you take a direct-to-consumer genetic test. > https://www.consumerreports.org/hea...rect-to-consumer-genetic-testing-a1009742549/

Excerpts from the article -

"Many people might not have a clear understanding of what happens to their personal genetic data after they mail a tube of spit to a private company for analysis. In a new white paper (PDF) published today, Consumer Reports’ privacy experts argue that part of the reason for this uncertainty is a gap in the regulatory framework surrounding consumers’ genetic data privacy.

Right now, companies write their own privacy policies that consumers agree to when they buy a test. But few laws regulate what companies must do to keep your data private and secure.

A few existing laws regulate some aspects of genetic privacy.

The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) prevents employers from discriminating against you on the basis of your genetic information. But it doesn’t say anything about what a third-party DTC genetic testing company can do with the information it collects about you.

Although the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) does apply to the results of genetic tests administered by your doctor or another healthcare provider, it doesn’t apply to DTC genetic testing companies.

Currently, however, no federal law directly addresses consumer privacy issues resulting from DTC genetic testing.

That means the companies that provide these services have the freedom to control what happens to a consumer’s genetic information once they receive it, Brookman says. Some companies also encourage consumers to provide additional sensitive family or health information in order to maximize the possible insights from the genetic tests being offered.

That means the companies that provide these services have the freedom to control what happens to a consumer’s genetic information once they receive it, Brookman says. Some companies also encourage consumers to provide additional sensitive family or health information in order to maximize the possible insights from the genetic tests being offered.

In one 2018 study of DTC genetic testing companies’ privacy policies, Vanderbilt University researchers found that 71 percent of companies used consumer information internally for purposes other than providing the results to consumers. Sixty-two percent said they use data for internal research and development, while 78 percent said they provided genetic information to third parties in de-identified or aggregate forms without additional consumer consent.

There are also few laws regulating how consumers’ genetic data should be stored and protected by the companies that collect it, and genetic testing companies have experienced data breaches. For example, the DTC genetic testing company MyHeritage was hacked in 2018, and users’ emails and scrambled passwords were stolen. Their DNA information wasn’t stolen, but such a breach is certainly possible, CR experts say.

Privacy experts say there are some key concerns. One is that your genetic information could be used in underwriting insurance policies. It can’t be used for health insurance, thanks to the ACA, but—except in Florida where this practice was recently prohibited—it could theoretically be used to determine life, long-term care, or disability insurance plans.

Your genetic information could also potentially be used against you in a court case. If you were to seek damages for a work-related injury, for example, a company might try to use information from your genome to point to potential other causes for your symptoms. Law enforcement agencies have used genetic data to identify criminal suspects through their blood relatives."

Bella ✌️
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I agree. Never volunteer information. What you get is fairly worthless compared to what THEY get.
 
I knew I had French Canadian ancestry on both sides, going back to the 1550s & 1600s. So I assumed most of my ancestors lived, for centuries, in a tiny, rural French village, which they never ventured far away from. Ancestry did an analysis.
It was apparent my ancestors, were very familiar with the words, "Hey sailor", because I have DNA from everywhere. I had no idea ancients were so mobile and so randy. You wonder how they ever met, way back in like, 1200 AD. The Americas weren't discovered by Europeans until the 1490s, and I have Mexican DNA from about 1520. Those long voyages.................
It was kind of fun. knowing this stuff.
 
My half sister was able to positively identify her father (who was already deceased) using ancestry. She had never been interested when young to know any details. I knew his name but by the time I was searching ancestry my mother had some dementia. The dna answered it all. She now has some distant family she corresponds with.
 
23 and Me several years ago. I am part Greek, part Italian. Uploaded the dna data to a site called Prometheas and they were able to show me all the data connected to my health through snips (heart, longevity genes, cancer genes, diabetes genes, obesity genes, etc). Over the years, I have consulted with it and have learned quite a bit. It is pretty accurate, I must say. I think I only paid 5 dollars for it at the time. I also linked my data to a couple other sites - I think Fitness genes is one of them, to see about what types of foods are best for me. So I was mostly interested in health reasons. The one site told me that a Norwegian diet is best for me (and I am Mediterranean) so that was a flop. Otherwise, happy with the results.
 
I’ve never done it but here is a list of places offering services for it.
https://www.pcmag.com/picks/the-best-dna-testing-kits
Alligatorob said:
23 and me, it was interesting. Probably the most interesting was the 4% Neanderthal. No surprises, no unknown family members or anything like that.

I did make contact with one third cousin who lived near me but I did not know or know of. It was fine, but no better than talking to any other stranger.
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Was it what you expected and was it worth it ?
 

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