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23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

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Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#31

Post by minipci1321 »

alexlikeits1999 wrote: post #26
throwyawaaaa wrote: post #6

I work in genomics. My lab, many of my friends and acquaintances work in genomics or had to dabble with it for at least one of their projects. You would think we would all be fascinated by this stuff, getting to know your own DNA and everything. Yet I don't know a single person who would even consider using 23andMe's service. To me this is all an elaborate scam. Why on earth would you pay them to give them your data…

You don't have to provide them with your real name. Also, I work in genomics and am a 23andme customer/product (although I was the latter before I the former became true).

I travel a fair bit and stay at the hotels here and there. I keep wondering, how long before hotels start sampling your personal belongings (toothbrush, comb etc) for gen data. Maybe that already happening? From there, how long before full lists of these data {genetic sample; full name and other credentials} are on sale on some special market?

Call me paranoid... is that sort of activity even regulated? Isn't this like a public image for photography?

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#34

Post by Uberphallus »

qball wrote: post #11
throwyawaaaa wrote: post #6

I work in genomics. My lab, many of my friends and acquaintances work in genomics or had to dabble with it for at least one of their projects. You would think we would all be fascinated by this stuff, getting to know your own DNA and everything. Yet I don't know a single person who would even consider using 23andMe's service. To me this is all an elaborate scam. Why on earth would you pay them to give them your data…

>Doesn't mean it won't be misused. To add to this, though genetic information may be protected against defining a pre-existing medical condition for insurance purposes today , there's zero guarantee that that law protecting you will still exist in the future , or extend to your descendants (which can be assumed to carry roughly half of your genetic material). Once you've given this data away without any guarantee tha…

What a group of friends has been doing is, they ordered +10 kits over a year shipped to the very same person, then they each of them spit and register the kit with a disposable email address. The info about the receiver is watered down (if he did one himself, which he didn't) and the rest remain reasonably anonymous as long as they keep using Tor/VPNs.

Moreover, these tests are forbidden in France, so these shipments are being sent to Monaco/Italy (1 hour drive from here), adding extra levels of law/tracking indirection.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#37

Post by fouc »

gadders wrote: post #30
reacharavindh wrote: post #7

Two thoughts came rushing to my mind after reading this. Disclaimer: I have not researched the scientific background of these thoughts. They are mere thoughts. It made me uncomfortable to read about the autistic child at the end of the story. Was Autism more probable because of the closer genetic relationship of parents? I was raised in southern India, and some of our families have a fascinating astrological traditio…

Sadly not all societies/cultures have a taboo against incest: "Couples who are getting married should be forced to have a DNA test first to ensure they are not cousins amid growing concern about incest within Pakistani communities, Britain's first Asian peer has claimed." https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/children/11723308/Fi... [EDIT] Additional link from the BBC today: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/stories-46558…

>Third-degree relatives (such as half-aunt, half-nephew, first cousin) on average share 12.5% genes, and sexual relations between them are viewed differently in various cultures, from being discouraged to being socially acceptable.

Relationships between cousins isn't always considered to be incest. It's more recent in the last 50-60 years, especially in USA, that cousin marriage is frowned upon based on misunderstanding the risk.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#38

Post by marchenko »

qball wrote: post #11
throwyawaaaa wrote: post #6

I work in genomics. My lab, many of my friends and acquaintances work in genomics or had to dabble with it for at least one of their projects. You would think we would all be fascinated by this stuff, getting to know your own DNA and everything. Yet I don't know a single person who would even consider using 23andMe's service. To me this is all an elaborate scam. Why on earth would you pay them to give them your data…

>Doesn't mean it won't be misused. To add to this, though genetic information may be protected against defining a pre-existing medical condition for insurance purposes today , there's zero guarantee that that law protecting you will still exist in the future , or extend to your descendants (which can be assumed to carry roughly half of your genetic material). Once you've given this data away without any guarantee tha…

Thus comment and the parent are spot-on. The main protection against the adversarial use of genetic databin the US, GINA, is currently facing several challenges, mostly through the backdoor of opt-in employee wellness plans.

Additionally, while the SNP- format generic data provided by 23andMe is of marginal medical use to the average consumer, it is very valuable to insurance companies and others constructing population-level actuarial models, where a very tiny increased probability of developing a condition is enough to justify increased rates.

And finally, as these relative-discovery stories suggest, there really is no such thing as anonymized genetic data above a panel of a few SNPs. This data is part of the inherence class of factors in multifactor authentication, and can even be derived from pooled anonymized data by a motivated party.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#39

Post by short_sells_poo »

emilburzo wrote: post #13
throwyawaaaa wrote: post #6

I work in genomics. My lab, many of my friends and acquaintances work in genomics or had to dabble with it for at least one of their projects. You would think we would all be fascinated by this stuff, getting to know your own DNA and everything. Yet I don't know a single person who would even consider using 23andMe's service. To me this is all an elaborate scam. Why on earth would you pay them to give them your data…

Allow me to offer a different perspective: I've used 23andme and it was one of the best decisions ever. Not so much for the Ancestry part, which was also interesting and explained my above-average cold tolerance, but for the health stuff. Granted, being from Europe they don't directly offer health services, but you can get the raw data and upload it to various sites for interpretation -- ranging from really accessibl…

That's a very good and level headed response to the parent. I agree with both perspectives. I think the crucial point is that you seem to have thought through the implications of deciding for or against using 23andme and after weighing the outcomes, you made an educated decision. Perhaps the decision was right (fingers crossed), maybe it was wrong, but the important point is that you thought about it.

I took parent's post less as a blanket warning against doing DNA tests, and more of a caution to consider the implications.

I think there is value in services like 23andme, and even if there are risks that the information will be misused, the risks are worth it. I don't mean the risks associated with case of a specific person, but the research and services associated with DNA sequencing in general.

Maybe 23andme is not the way forward, and eventually some other (better) services will arise, but we (humanity) are in something of an uncharted territory here, so there is need for a bit of trial and error. Yes there be dragons, and occasionally we'll have our eyebrows singed, but advances in medicine and biology (as your case highlights) are vast.

Re: 23andMe Informed Me My Husband and I Are Related

#40

Post by refurb »

throwyawaaaa wrote: post #6

I work in genomics. My lab, many of my friends and acquaintances work in genomics or had to dabble with it for at least one of their projects. You would think we would all be fascinated by this stuff, getting to know your own DNA and everything. Yet I don't know a single person who would even consider using 23andMe's service. To me this is all an elaborate scam. Why on earth would you pay them to give them your data…

As someone with a biochemistry background and a decent understanding of genomics I couldn’t agree more about not putting faith in the results.

From ancestory to health risks there is so much BS out there. Some crappy paper correlates a SNP with a health risk and people freak out.

People should take results outside of heavily validated studies with a grain of salt.

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