Warning on Ancestry (and other) DNA tests?

[MLMshouldbeillegal]

Ancestry, My Heritage and the other DNA testing companies are all pushing their tests as the ideal Christmas gift, and they are cheaper than ever. Ancestry had a black Friday offer for £50, My Heritage even cheaper at £39.

AIBU to think these tests should come with a wee health warning? That although it's marketed as a "find out your ethnicity" tool, in fact it might reveal some long-hidden family secrets?

I have tested with Ancestry and uploaded my data to other sites too. No surprises on my tree, matches with distant cousins who all fit into the picture as I know it. But I also go genealogical client work and I'm currently working with a man in his 70s who was given one of the tests for father's day back in June and is trying to process the fact that he is not matching with other descendants of his grandfather. Or at least the man he thought was his grandfather. So in later life, he's trying to come to terms with his much loved grandfather, who his father absolutely adored, is probably not his biological relative. It's a lot to deal with.

The testing companies really push the "find out if you're part Viking, part Native American" in their marketing but that aspect isn't really very accurate - My Heritage says I'm >2% Iraq/Iran/Turkey and I'm definitely not. Ancestry is more accurate given what I know about my tree.

Taking one of these tests could open up a whole can of worms in terms of relationships in the family, in this generation or further back with people who are long dead, and who you can't get answers from. For some people it can be a lot to process and I dont think the implications are properly laid out.

[Swirlywoo]

I agree. I haven't done it because I feel weird about a company holding my data and that of my family's. I have enjoyed finding stuff out from records data but as you say, the heritage DNA test is not accurate. If I had any chance of a can of worms too, I personally wouldn't want to know.

[Cocomarine]

I think people need to take personal responsibility and engage their brain 🤷🏻‍♀️
It’s bloody obvious that you might discover something unexpected.
The sort of person who doesn’t think of that would read the warning (well, if they bothered to read it) and never assume it could apply to them anyway.
Why do you think people should be absolved of using their own brains?

[Littleants]

I was furious in a cafe once because a man behind me reckoned he needed counselling for discovering he had a black ancestor.

I think they are dangerous because you are giving your genetic information to a private company and God knows how it may be used in the future (looking at you history, and your cyclical ways).

[LIZS]

You don't have to follow up the personal connections results may generate if all you want is ethnic background.

[poopyface]

There was quite a lot of info/warning about it when I did mine

[Peccary]

I work in a related scientific field and haven't done it, I feel weird about it too.

A small percentage in the ethnicity data just means you share some mutations mostly found in those populations. Those could go back a long way.


The way they present the data as "you are x% something" is not accurate

[ToffeeNotCoffee]

I'm a wee bit sceptical of this i.e. I'll only have their word for it.

Also, I don't want to invoke strangers into my family tree. Even though they are already there on account that anyone's family tree with have squillions of dead people in it !

[MLMshouldbeillegal]

@LIZS

You don't have to follow up the personal connections results may generate if all you want is ethnic background.

This is true. But who is not going to click on the DNA matches button, especially if it says it's found close relatives?

I do also agree that there is a degree of personal responsibility. But everyone's heard stories about someone not knowing they were adopted until adulthood, or never suspecting for one second that their Dad wasn't their biological father and everything being blown apart by a DNA test. It's just a bit shady that the companies are marketing these as "find your ethnicity" and not pointing out that it might also reveal close relatives you didn;t know about.

[Strawberry0909]

I agree, a relative of mine did one of these and discovered he had another brother, a man he grew up with,

[TreeSmuggler]

These tests don't appeal to me, the heritage stuff is not necessarily accurate, potential for family secrets etc, and you are giving away your DNA to be later accessed by who knows who.

However I think YABU worrying about others getting the tests when you got it yourself. Clearly you can see the appeal and wanted to take the above risks, so why shouldn't others?

[Volterra]

I think people do need to be more aware that it could throw up something unexpected in the results. I’m helping one of my matches on 23andme find his biological parents (really hard as only low matches) so joined a FB group that helps people with DNA results and have seen a fair few where people have found (often quite late in life) that a parent isn’t biologically related to them, huge shock.

I had a bit of a surprise in that my GG Grandfather isn’t who he was on paper. Have found the right one now with some help from my newly found 3rd cousin and it’s no big deal as such a distant relationship. I went into it with my eyes open and it still felt a bit strange for a moment so I can only imagine how it must be with someone closer to you.

[MLMshouldbeillegal]

@Peccary

I work in a related scientific field and haven't done it, I feel weird about it too.

A small percentage in the ethnicity data just means you share some mutations mostly found in those populations. Those could go back a long way.

The way they present the data as "you are x% something" is not accurate

Yes, they use a reference panel of people whose DNA has been tested, and who have a properly researched to genealogy standards tree going back several hundred years. That's fine.

But the rest of it in terms of ethnicity matching is less scientific and looks at other people who have tested and what they have in common with you. Ancestry has had many more UK people which is why my ethnicity match on there is actually pretty good and matches what I have paper records to back up. (Apart from 2% scandinavian which is very distant). My Heritage has a higher percentage of North American test takers which I am assuming is where the Middle East in my estimate comes from, there is nothing in the records which suggests this.

[MLMshouldbeillegal]

I don't think people shouldn't do them, @TreeSmuggler. I do think though that the risks need to be clearly spelled out.

I understood those risks and implications which was why I was happy enough to go ahead and submit my DNA for testing.

[kikipie]

Of course you might find out something that has been hidden. It’s obvious. I don’t think anyone could be surprised by that

[Volterra]

Another problem is some people test for ethnicity then forget about it and change email addresses over time so don’t get emails that they have messages.

Then someone new tests and finds someone unexpected they match and have to deal with the whole not expected relative situation and struggle to find their biological relative as people who match closely don’t see the messages - or say that they aren’t related as don’t understand how the DNA matches work and don’t get that it doesn’t mean they aren’t related if they don’t recognise the name.

[Lindy2]

I'm on Ancestry and I find it quite interesting.

There were very clear warnings and disclaimers about what might be revealed by taking part. I think I even remember a warning that the Police could use pubic dna records.

It doesn't bother me at all.

[RedToothBrush]

Ive done a lot of family history and discovered that my husbands great grandfather wasn't married to his great grandmother.

Theres a long saga involved which i found out without DNA but it was still delicate. Ive been in touch with the other side and they said their father was never aware of the secret and they only became aware of it themselves through another family member after his death.

I had a good idea there was a secret there and i just found out the details of it. I really wouldn't like to find out, out of the blue by dna.

This secret goes back to 1910 so its not recent and was still difficult to process.

Fascinating but sensitive.

I wouldn't go near dna tests for a whole host of other reasons too... We don't know where that data is going to end up nor what it will be used for in 100 years time.

Knowing how the family secret has echoed down 3 generations, i just think it a can of worms which doesn't do good for the vast majority.

[Theunamedcat]

I'm fine with it last year I tested myself and my children we are various amounts of English Scottish Welsh and a touch of Swedish the only suprise was one of my sons is more Scottish than his brother they have the exact same parents! But they do explain how that happens

[MLMshouldbeillegal]

I think I even remember a warning that the Police could use pubic dna records.

Not in the UK. Ancestry in the US does not allow routine law enforcement access to DNA, the police have to go to court to get an order to access details.

GedMatch is a different matter, they allow police to access profiles which have been marked public to help narrow down the identity of a criminal, or unidentified human remains. The arrest of the Golden State Killer is the most famous example of this. www.verdict.co.uk/golden-state-killer/ It's s very controversial topic in DNA and genealogy communities.

[PinkWednesdays]

My Heritage says I'm >2% Iraq/Iran/Turkey and I'm definitely not

But how do you know? Less than 2% is really small, so either it goes back many centuries that you haven’t identified yet, or a male ancestor isn’t actually your ancestor?

[mugoftea456]

My father walked out when I was a child, no huge trauma to me. However i do know he went on to have more children, none of which know i exist. I would never to one of these test, it would be awful for the other children to find out about their fathers previous life in this way.

[KrispyKale]

It's an obvious possibility (I would have thought!) when you do a DNA test.

[Inquisitivearchitect]

They must have changed their marketing / literature because when I did mine years ago there was plenty of warnings about it all.

And my ethnicity was exactly as expected (based on stories from grandparents etc!)

[sashh]

@Lindy2

I'm on Ancestry and I find it quite interesting.

There were very clear warnings and disclaimers about what might be revealed by taking part. I think I even remember a warning that the Police could use pubic dna records.

It doesn't bother me at all.

I sincerely hope that is a typo for public.

There's a really interesting film on YouTube, it's a US TV reporter and her identical twin who take the tests with various companies.

It looks at why there are inaccuracies, and how the information people add and how as the databases grow they become more accurate.

But there are people who are stupid. Someone arguing on Twitter that they knew they were English and that if 'English' wasn't a race then the company wouldn't say he was whatever %, no amount of people telling him that it's not accurate could convince this guy.

Then there is the issue of chimeras, that would not show up in a DNA test, so the test could show your mother is not related to you when in fact she is your biological mother but is a chimera.

[Linning]

I honestly think they are a bit crap.

My boss gifted me one for Christmas as she was curious about my heritage (I am mixed). The initial answer I had already stated that I was 50% European 48% African (accurate) and then went on to say I was mostly French/German (my mom’s side is French and has been for as long as we can tell) and on the African side my dad’s country wasn’t listed. They then had an update and the 40% French suddenly dropped to 8% and I am now 42% Spanish and Portuguese, 8% French and still no percentage of my dad’s bio country.

Considering they dropped my French heritage by 32% after an updated it’s very unlikely that those test are accurate. Now according to the current results I would barely be related to my mom and neither to my dad. And considering my mom had me at 17, the chances of her adopting me are pretty null and since I am mixed the chances of her being given the wrong baby at hospital are also pretty low.

So I am just going to assume those tests are fairly inaccurate and would advise people to take them with a big grain of salt. I very much wish I wasn’t related to my parents but it’s very unlikely and so I find sad that those tests have managed to make people feel less close to people in their life just because the test suggest that they aren’t related.