topic Re: DNA Testing advice in Community Chat

DNA Testing advice

bonnielu — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:15:34 GMT

I have thought about DNA testing. Waiting for a bargain price LOL (price reduction around holidays from Ancestry). I want to test me and hubby. In simple terms... those of you who have tested... do you have any advice. I am fair- my hubby is dark (olive). Opposites attract I guess. I am sure I am Eastern European - He is probably not. I am sooo curious more about him than me. My children think it is a bad idea... something about records and invasion of privacy.

Re: DNA Testing advice

ItsME — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:18:02 GMT

I think it would be interesting, but I'm with your children on this.... I don't know how they'd use your information, and I don't have a lot of trust on things like that.

Re: DNA Testing advice

Boehm Collector — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:18:12 GMT

@bonnielu wrote:
I have thought about DNA testing. Waiting for a bargain price LOL (price reduction around holidays from Ancestry). I want to test me and hubby. In simple terms... those of you who have tested... do you have any advice. I am fair- my hubby is dark (olive). Opposites attract I guess. I am sure I am Eastern European - He is probably not. I am sooo curious more about him than me. My children think it is a bad idea... something about records and invasion of privacy.

Hi @bonnielu .... I have considered it briefly but decided against it. For some reason I am uncomfortable with having my DNA "out there".

Re: DNA Testing advice

bonnielu — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:25:24 GMT

Interesting responses... sounds like my kids. LOL. They really really really think that I would be at risk in some way. I sort of feel on a daily basis we are at risk.... scam phone calls, people going door to door selling something, just being on the Internet. I so want to take the risk but I am holding back since lots of people feel the way you guys do.

I did have an incident two years ago. I saw a pamphlet in my doctors office about testing for breast cancer... gene research. Well it turns out it was only free if there were family members with cancer. I cannot go back more than two generations and could not honestly say anyone had breast cancer. I could not say it RAN IN THE FAMILY. So my bill would have been $3,500 for the test. Only problem I did give the blood to the nurse but they refused to give me the info. Nasty situation. I should have been warned. My DNA is out there only I don't have any information.

Re: DNA Testing advice

Yardlie — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:27:53 GMT

@bonnielu wrote:
I have thought about DNA testing. Waiting for a bargain price LOL (price reduction around holidays from Ancestry). I want to test me and hubby. In simple terms... those of you who have tested... do you have any advice. I am fair- my hubby is dark (olive). Opposites attract I guess. I am sure I am Eastern European - He is probably not. I am sooo curious more about him than me. My children think it is a bad idea... something about records and invasion of privacy.

@bonnielu ... I did my DNA test through 23andme. I am fair also and turned out to be about 75% Western European (mainly British, Irish, and Scottish). I had a little Eastern European through my Polish grandmother. You can learn so much. It was fascinating, and I continue to be sent new information as they run more tests on my DNA.

Re: DNA Testing advice

Zita — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:40:17 GMT

Two thoughts on this: My family and I have had DNA testing (from different sites) and am overwhelmingly in favor of it! Astonishing results that are much more specific than just saying, well my mother was Irish. I now know I am 49% Irish, 87% European, and 13% Middle Easternl (Turkish and Jewish, both of which took me completely by surprise.) The OP's children sound paranoid, as did my brother until he consented to the testing. The databases simply explain the movement of peoples for thousands of years and the genetic component of all of us.

Second thought: the Mormons have been keeping detailed records of everyone in the U.S. for years -- they're accessible to a point by outsiders, but are stored underground in Salt Lake City. To what end? don't know since they haven't explained what they do with the information, but it's there, with or without an individual's permission.

Re: DNA Testing advice

SXMGirl — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:42:33 GMT

When my family doctor asked about my heritage, I decided that at some point to get the DNA testing. I went through MyHeritage because of a sale, but I will probably also get it done through one of the others, just to see if they agree. The results were startling and absolutely not what I expected.

If you are going to do it, stick with Ancestry or 23andme.

Re: DNA Testing advice

SilleeMee — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:47:51 GMT

I purchased the Ancestry DNA kit to find my ethnicity. The privacy thing did not bother me because I was informed that my DNA information remains anonymous.

Re: DNA Testing advice

spot555 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:49:33 GMT

I would never do this. I think it's extremely creepy to offer your DNA to basically strangers. Then they send you info, & who knows if it's in any way accurate or valid.

I would AVOID this in every way!

Re: DNA Testing advice

Trixie24 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:53:35 GMT

My husband and I had our DNA analized by Ancestry.com a few years ago. I think it's facinating and I couldn't wait for the results! We too, are "opposites" in looks and backgrounds. Surprisingly, we found we have aproximately 30% of a certain ethnicity in common, which we did not expect! I expected to find I was 50% this and 50% that, which I was told all my life, well....not true. You know, we really are all related.

I've done my Family trees on Ancestry, and so very often I find another interesting tidbit of information. I could spend hours and hours researching my family. I recommend it highly!

As for invasion of privacy, I really don't have any concern. You can read Ancestry's privacy policy if you are worried.

I say, go for it!

Re: DNA Testing adviceThe

ALRATIBA — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:56:08 GMT

If you're curious - go ahead. Millions and millions of people have been/are being tested, and the prices are so much lower these days.

Back around 2005, my local genealogical society had a DNA seminar by FamilyTreeDNA. We did the mtDNA and Y-DNA testing simply to find our haplogroups. I was curious where we fit into the "scheme of things" DNA-wise. Two books that prompted us to do the testing were Bryan Sykes' "Seven Daughters of Eve" and Spencer Wells' "The Journey of Man."

Re: DNA Testing advice

pattypeep — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 14:57:29 GMT

@bonnielu My daughter had hers done and I received a 30% off one day, and my daughter encouraged me to do it. I have not received the results back yet and I'm not filling out all of the family tree stuff. I was just curious and it will be interesting to compare with my daughters to see the differences. Hopefully, she has more of my DNA than that of her father's. LOL

Re: DNA Testing advice

ChynnaBlue — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:19:33 GMT

@Boehm Collector wrote:
@bonnielu wrote:
I have thought about DNA testing. Waiting for a bargain price LOL (price reduction around holidays from Ancestry). I want to test me and hubby. In simple terms... those of you who have tested... do you have any advice. I am fair- my hubby is dark (olive). Opposites attract I guess. I am sure I am Eastern European - He is probably not. I am sooo curious more about him than me. My children think it is a bad idea... something about records and invasion of privacy.
Hi @bonnielu .... I have considered it briefly but decided against it. For some reason I am uncomfortable with having my DNA "out there".

Your actual DNA is "out there" everywhere you are. You leave it behind in restaurants, doctor's offices, the gym, the hotel where you slept and showered, your desk, your car - everywhere you go you leave some behind. It's not always enough to create a complete profile if you just touch something, but the more you interact with something, the more DNA you leave behind.

You may not be comfortable with someone having your DNA test results, but your DNA itself is already out there.

Re: DNA Testing advice

AngusandBuddhasMom — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:32:36 GMT

I have thought about doing it and having my daughter do it as well but her fiance is a Scientist and he says it's a waste of money unless you are spending a lot more for accurate details. These tests are not at the point for being conclusive.

The testing is at best very general so if you are OK with that then go for it. I don't think its being paranoid you have no say over what happens to your dna after you send it on. And since they are not regulated who knows.

Re: DNA Testing advice

SilleeMee — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:42:14 GMT

This kind of DNA testing is not like it was in the Henrietta Lacks case where there were cells taken from her body without consent and were later used commercially.

Re: DNA Testing advice

spot555 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 15:52:48 GMT

How do you know? I never blindly put my trust in others....EVER.

Re: DNA Testing advice

Trinity11 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:03:24 GMT

I did it last year and found out I was exactly what I thought but a few surprises. There was another site where afterwards you can find out your health risks ...Prometheas Genetics and it explained a lot of why I have chronic illness. It cost very little and I just downloaded my results from Ancestry.com. I showed the results to my cardiologist who was very interested in the results.

Re: DNA Testing advice

SeaMaiden — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:15:20 GMT

Do a google search on it. I did one on another brand and most people were not that impressed with the information. IF you have no clue as to your background, then it might be interesting. Most of us have an idea so the information will not be all that interesting or worth the money.

I did one on my adopted new dog as I knew he was part Golden Retriever, but what was the other part? I guessed Irish Setter and found out from the Dna test that he is 3/4 Golden and 1/4 Standard Poodle. So for me the $70 for the test for my dog was worth it.

As far as my background I know where my Mother's family came from, and I know where my Fathers parents both came from. So, no need to pay money to be told what is obvious.

Re: DNA Testing advice

Plaid Pants2 — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:11:43 GMT

I have only done the Ancestry.com one where you spit in to a vile, send it off, and then "X" number of weeks later, you can look on like and see your pie chart of what you are made up of.

I did not do any other "DNA" testing, because all I wanted to know was genelogical make up. I didn't care to know anything else.

And is is just like they show on the commercials.

Re: DNA Testing advice

SilleeMee — Thu, 16 Feb 2017 16:11:45 GMT

When I got my results back I was a little disappointed with the Asian part of my genetic background. The results were so very broad and I was hoping to get more specific results regarding areas of Asia rather than just Asia as being treated like it was a single country. Very disappointing.