DNA Testing advice

bonnielu · ‎03-11-2010

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.

ItsME · ‎03-10-2010

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.

Boehm Collector · ‎03-09-2010

@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".

bonnielu · ‎03-11-2010

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.

Yardlie · ‎03-10-2010

@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.

A kind gesture can reach a wound that only compassion can heal. ~~ Steve Maraboli

Zita · ‎05-24-2011

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.

SXMGirl · ‎07-07-2010

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.

The next time that I hear salt and ice together, it better be in a margarita!

SilleeMee · ‎05-22-2016

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.

spot555 · ‎03-09-2010

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!

Trixie24 · ‎05-16-2016

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!