While I find the idea fascinating (I'd love to know why my family of supposedly predominantly Irish-scots are SO dark - olive skin, dark almond eyes, full lips, almost black very curly hair - except me! Redhead, White freckly skin, thin lips, small eyes wtf!) the idea of a commercial company owning my DNA info concerns me. Especially given that duplicating DNA is now possible and the potential for misuse by con artists or even govt is deeply disturbing!
I also wonder if people doing this are fully prepared to discover:
Their parents aren't their parents (there's a stat that there's a high number of men raising children they don't know aren't theirs) an affair is bad enough - what if you find out you're the product of a rape? Or even incest?
Their grandparents aren't theirs (very common in my parents age group and older for babies born "out of wedlock" to be claimed to be the maternal grandparents child and the mother described as their aunt)
Their background isn't what they thought - I think some in denial racists could be in for a shock!
To discover relatives they didn't know about who were institutionalised and "forgotten" for a variety of reasons.
I've known a few people find out other ways that their aunt is actually their mum and their parents grandparents and it's caused all kinds of heartache.
I've known one person find out due to medical issues that their dad isn't their dad and their mums sworn them to secrecy! Which has placed a huge burden on them.
I also know a family who through one tracing the family tree through traditional means discovered a relative with what we now call severe learning disabilities was still alive, none of the rest of the living family knew about them and at the time were living in an institution. They'd not even had a visit for decades. It changed the family's view of certain "lovely" relatives who it was discovered knew about and ignored this relative.
When you go looking...you never know what you'll find!
I'm also concerned that adopted people or people who grew up in care may try and use these kits to trace their biological family and it could potentially put them at risk, certainly of emotional harm because there's no counselling support in place to deal with the results.
Anyone who watches "who do you think you are?" On a regular basis knows that family lore is often wrong - a sort of inter generational Chinese whispers thing occurs. 5 X great granny once holidayed in France becomes "we're descended from French nobility" 😂
On the other hand a friend of mines dad has done their family tree - normal working class family - turns out they ARE related to the current Royal family, and not as distantly as you might think!
"Any scandals uncovered would be interesting not upsetting." Are you certain that applies to your relatives too?
"it had a warning on the box saying that if you or a family member have ever committed a serious crime then it is not advisable" might not be advisable for the criminal - useful for police though. I'm willing to bet most rapists, paedos & murderers that haven't yet been caught aren't going around telling people even relatives what they've done! I have no sympathy for the criminals but feel sorry for families who will then discover this truth and possibly even be approached by police.
That BBC article is FULL of cautionary tales!
"On a fertility site I used to be a member of there were a significant number of people who didn’t plan to tell their donor conceived child about the use of a donor. I think that is untenable in these days of DNA testing and as it’s increasingly likely that medical treatments will be targeted based on various genes etc." Totally agree!
"as I thought Jewish applies to religion not race?" It's arguably both I believe.
The donor eggs/sperm thing, it's great that people struggling with infertility can get this help but I've always wondered how those involved can feel remotely confident that genetic sexual attraction issues can be avoided.
"They all have privacy policies." I can see these easily being set aside for criminal investigations. Surely it would simply be a case of getting a warrant for the information.
Mloo the post above answers your question really - medical info! You want just anyone knowing your genetic medical info?