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Hello! Good morning! Today I'm pleased to bring you the start of something I've been working on for a long time: a series on the world of direct-to-consumer genetic tests. Today, we've got a big ol' state of play giving you the overview of the field: qz.com/1600084/the-ri…
Here, I look at the three big umbrellas of DTC genetic testing: what they can tell us about our health, our ancestry, and the privacy issues they pose.
Companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA don't lie about their capabilities—if you comb through the fine print, you'll see that these tests aren't going to read your DNA like a crystal ball (clinical tests are much better) But their advertising doesn't always make that clear.
This is particularly problematic with ancestry tests. The biggest thing with these tests is that they emphasize the small ways in which we are different, rather than focusing on the 99.9% of our DNA that is the same. (More on that later this week.)
And once your DNA is in company databases, for the most part, it's out there. It's not only capable of identifying you, but also your family members.
(Most companies don't share their DNA with law enforcement that we know of—but the fact remains.)
DTC genetic tests came from a collective curiosity we had about understanding how our DNA makes us unique. Interest in science is a great thing—overblown, flashy advertising is less so. We need more science literacy, not misinformation. Read more here: qz.com/1600084/the-ri…
