This Guy Bought His Whole Family A DNA Test For Christmas And It Turned Their Lives Upside Down

I feel the same, Molly. I have several autoimmune diseases. They have no cure. No current effective treatment. No research done to see whether they're hereditary or not, and are frequently misdiagnosed. If my DNA can help my children, grandchildren, or someone else's babies one day to not live in pain and suffer like I am, then giving up my genetic information is worth it.

If it would be for the good of all. But if it is, we do not know. You have nothing to lose? Well, your idebtity and your freedom!

I am always sceptical about these things. The first thing I think this could and probably will be used for is medical insurance companies. They will know what people in your family died from and refuse to insure you. On the other hand medical research could benefit, also finding the best candidates for clinical trials.

I wouldn't take this test for all the tea in China. You are giving away something very private, to a company you don't know, for no good reason. In the near future it could be used for soooo many evil things, such as rejecting your medical insurance because of your genetic profile... The best thing to prevent this from happening is simple: DO NOT GIVE AWAY THIS KIND OF CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION. NEVER.

Maria Hermida, if and when, ANY government will decide to collect DNA samples of its citizens, this will be done (or is now in process) WITHOUT asking YOUR permission. You are a number for them, nothing else.

There have already been reports about how these companies are cooperating with various authorities (local and federal) without court orders. They just show up, ask for it, and it's given to them. There are laws preventing various law enforcement agencies from sharing this sort of information, but done of those laws bar private companies from giving it to said agencies. Or insurance companies. Or anyone. A number of criminal cases have been solved because the authorities had DNA evidence left by a perpetrator and when it was compared to test results from these companies, it pointed to a relative of someone who had a DNA test done by one of the companies.

Related to what Dian says: www.forbes.com/sites/janetwburns/2017/03/14/gop-bill-could-force-employees-to-undergo-dna-testing-or-pay-thousands/#5ef07b0c71fe

I have taken the 23andMe test. You have to agree to have your results aggregated to be used for medical and genetic testing. If you click 'no', it isn't used. I have several autoimmune diseases. They have no cure. No current effective treatment. No research done to see whether they're hereditary or not, and are frequently misdiagnosed. If my DNA can help my children, grandchildren, or someone else's babies one day to not live in pain and suffer like I am, then giving up my genetic information is worth it. For the most part, any connections with these companies are done from pharmacetical companies and research laboratories who receive aggregated (non-personalized) data, stripped of your actual identifying information, in order to research diseases, cures, and treatments. Everyone freaking out is jumping on a conspiracy bandwagon. Notice, many say they haven't taken the tests- meaning they haven't seen the member's only side of the sites, where you have to agree to when/if/how to share.

I've also read that DNA companies are already striking deals with insurance companies... imagine not being covered because you carry the gene that may give you a particular disease?

Debbie, they are also finding identities of cold case John/Jane Doe through similarity in public DNA results. I'm definitely in favor of both those uses.

Cool movie.

And then several family members also do it, and as a result of their results, both your real identity AND alias are on record.

Random thought: Gattaca looked like a society pre-Brave New World to me. These two stories feel connected.

Ancestry is owned by members of the church, not the church itself. The church compiles historical records, not DNA. We believe that families can be together after this life, so we seek out records to help us trace our family. We then perform the ordinances on their behalf. DNA testing is neither required nor encouraged. Also, if you set your Ancestry info to private, no one, not even the church, can see your info. I am much more comfortable with the Ancestry test than the 23andMe test. Did you know that hidden in the failed healthcare reform bills of 2017 was a little section that would have allowed employers to test and have access your health DNA tests? What do our bosses need with that info?

That's a part of the 23andMe test I especially loved! It had a section where it showed the likely migration of your family from region to region to get to you and where you are now. It was really neat to see where each generation may have been located based on how much of our genetic link was focused there.