My brother-in-law's brother learned of a 28year old daughter he never knew he had because of 23andMe and met her last year.
How did that happen?
It's called the "whose your daddy" algorithm.
23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
61–70 of 118 posts
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#62Earlier quoted context omitted.
I ended up learning I supposedly have a 40.1% chance of getting Alzheimer's Disease. It hid the result and asked me if I really wanted to know. I am not sure who in their right mind would not want to know (though maybe that is my Alzheimer's talking). Such a thing would drive someone crazy. I have just kept living my life the way I have been. It was scary at first. At least I know I ought to eat right etc... I think…
But there's lots you can do to reduce your risk for Alzheimers. It's good that you know! (1) Exercise (2) Take lots of curcumin. Capsules - not just curries (it's an extract from turmeric). References: http://alzheimer.neurology.ucla.edu/Curcumin.html http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20182027
Alternatively, eat lots of cake so that you die of something else first.
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
My fathers-fathers-father was an immigrant from Norway (a village now in Sweden.) The family rumor was about a wealthy man named Cooper, a common English name. My Y chromosome is from Doggerland. Occam's Razor favors Mr. Cooper.
Interesting, but I'm confused. I had to look up Doggerland but apparently it's been submerged for 6000 years and was in the North Sea, why couldn't your Norwegian ancestors have come from Doggerland originally?
If you look at the modern distribution of Doggerland Y, then it's clear that it's much, much more common in England and the Netherlands than in Norway-now-Sweden. You are correct that I can't be 100% certain.
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#64Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's basically telling them with ambiguity attached. I'm not sure it's much better.
They should do a product that only tests for preventable, curable conditions. Telling someone they have a high risk of breast cancer or bowel cancer is helpful: they can get regular checkups. Telling someone they have a high risk of Parkinson's or MS is just cruel.
I'm not sure how that well that's going to work, with genome sequencing now below $1000. The data is going to be out there, putting your head in the sand isn't going to solve your mortality issues.
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#6523andMeh had to pivot because their egos thought they could simply ignore the FDA. But 23andMeh essentially lost several years to that hubris, and as a result many others in the genomics field have not only caught up but bypassed them.
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#66Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's not correct. The FDA made them stop doing something they were doing illegally. Their genetic test is a medical device and they didn't have federal approval. Further, when the FDA informed them they needed approval, they didn't respond. The FDA finally had to invoke the law. Also, I don't think 23&Me's test results have enough medical value to be used for evaluating health risks. Further, 23&me's database has s…
> Also, I don't think 23&Me's test results have enough medical value to be used for evaluating health risks. Insurance companies would have another view.
That's probably the reason why the FDA wants them to get approval before making such evaluations.
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#67Earlier quoted context omitted.
How did that happen?
brother-in-law was signed up and he got a message saying his niece was on the service. He doesn't have any nieces. They chatted and he figured it must have been his brother and it was. Pretty crazy.
I'm sorry, could you explain in a bit more detail? It sounds like what you're saying is that your sister's husband signed up for 23andMe and sent in his DNA sample. Then, 23andMe said "based on your DNA, we believe another of our members is likely your niece, here is her contact info...". Then, your sister's husband contacted this person (the potential niece), and after some chatting it seemed likely that your sister's husband's brother was indeed the girl's biological father, and this was then later confirmed with additional DNA testing.
If this is in fact the story, doesn't this seem like an invasion of privacy on the part of 23andMe?
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#68This would make me anxious. I remember reading about someone who learned from 23andMe that they had a terminal disease or something like that, and it drastically altered their life. I'd rather just live in ignorance.
I'd be more interested in my doctor having this information. I tend to self diagnose (poorly) when presented with too much information that I don't understand well. But I feel like a medical professional could use the data to keep an eye out for specific symptoms and tailor questions for my risks, without giving me unneeded anxiety.
I have heard that giving your doctor information about genetic conditions may result in treatment for those conditions being excluded by your health insurance (because they're "pre-existing").
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
23andme user here (one of the first). If the disease in question could be hard to handle mentally/emotionally, they specifically include a warning that is very direct and says "Are you sure you want to know this?".
Once you are asked "Are you sure you want to know this?" you are already making the person very anxious. Now they would certainly want to what their problem is. Who would be comfortable when they are told, they have a terminal disease and are they happy not knowing what that is?
Except as mentioned, you get that question regardless of the result.
Would you prefer they didn't ask?
Re: 23andMe Wins a Second Life, Raises $115M
#70Earlier quoted context omitted.
brother-in-law was signed up and he got a message saying his niece was on the service. He doesn't have any nieces. They chatted and he figured it must have been his brother and it was. Pretty crazy.
I'm sorry, could you explain in a bit more detail? It sounds like what you're saying is that your sister's husband signed up for 23andMe and sent in his DNA sample. Then, 23andMe said "based on your DNA, we believe another of our members is likely your niece, here is her contact info...". Then, your sister's husband contacted this person (the potential niece), and after some chatting it seemed likely that your sister…
Invasion of privacy? Considering that you can't even get the health information now, ancestry matching is literally the only reason to use the service. Why would you sign up and go through the whole spitting in a cup song and dance if you didn't want to find relatives?