Growing public interest in ancestry and health, fueled by television and online marketing, has made 2018 a record year for DNA testing. In fact, 2019 does not seem to have been left behind and millions of consumers have added their DNA to the leading databases in this field. If the pace continues, genetic treasures could contain data on the genetic makeup of more than 100 million people in just 24 months.
Concerned about privacy?
As explained in this Nobbot article, in July 2018, the main companies dedicated to this type of testing signed a protocol of good practices. The document, ‘Privacy Best Practices for Consumer Genetic Testing Services’, which can be consulted online, states that companies undertake, among other things, to be transparent in the processing of personal data and never to work with individualized data. This is not all: the user always has cancellation rights and has to grant a prior and express authorization for their data to be used commercially.
So far, the protocol has been signed by seven companies: 23andMe, Ancestry, Helix, MyHeritage, Habit, African Ancestry, and Living DNA.
How to do the DNA test
Consumer DNA test kits promise a roadmap of our genealogy and, in some cases, information on the diseases we are susceptible to.
The procedure is simple: take a swab or swab and take a saliva sample and mail it to the company in question. In that small sample is the most personal information that we can share: the genetic code. Some companies share that data with law enforcement, and most sell their DNA data to third parties …
Among the available options, MyHeritage is one of the most affordable alternatives, since you can take the DNA test for just 79 euros. It is also one of the most popular, which is why it has an extensive database throughout the world. It is a good place to find out where your ancestors were from. 23AndMe is another of the world’s most famous companies. It offers information on our genetic ancestors from the last 300-400 years, as well as an analysis of the groups of genetic haplotypes from the last 200,000 years. It’s a bit more expensive, but not much: $ 99. The third most famous company for home DNA kits is Ancestry . One of the peculiarities of this service is that if you allow it, it can find genetic similarities and share said data publicly. We can obtain the test in two modalities: a cheaper one, for 99 dollars and another for 119. The latter provides a portrait of our ancestors and indicates the genes responsible for some of our most prominent traits.
While DNA testing has been used in medical and scientific contexts for decades, direct-to-consumer test kits are still relatively new, and legal policies governing the private use of consumer data are still being developed.
