DNA Test Scams

[JohnW63]

"She took a couple DNA tests and found out that there is no native American in her. It was actually kind of devastating to her as her entire family believed they were and had identified with it culturally."

If few if any native Americans are in the database, you won't get a match.

 

[fronobulax]

If few if any native Americans are in the database, you won't get a match.

Of course that is the whole point of a thread discussing DNA tests as scams. The correlations between an individual and a group are only as good as the statistical data on the group. If most of your ancestors are "white" and European then the reported correlation is probably valid but if your ancestors have other ethnicities or roots elsewhere then the results almost certainly do not mean what the people who took your money for a test want you to believe.

How Accurate Are Online DNA Tests?

Geneticist and author Adam Rutherford examines the evidence

www.scientificamerican.com

 

[lungimsam]

I know two peeps where the DNA was spot on: me and my wife.

Me:
I was interested in finding out who my bio-parents are my whole life.
It can gnaw at you:
Who?
Why?
Would they want contact now?
It’s like one of life’s ultimate abandonments/rejections. Your own blood giving you away. Not to mention these things were done to you by the government and your bio-parents without your consent (but perhaps for your own good). It does affect you. Your life is decided upon by others and you had no control at all.
State of MD sealed the docs and took 5 years and a lawyer to get the non-identifying info I legally (by their laws) was entitled to, upon request.
I then did Ancestry DNA and I found them briefly after getting my results.
The DNA profile was spot on to what my bio-parents families are.
I politely requested contact but left it up to them. They rudely declined.
But I got all my questions answered.
Now I just wait til my siblings do the DNA and get the surprise of their life. I won’t contact them first at bio-parents’ request.

Wife: Not adopted. She did her DNA. Spot on. She is Chinese and Dai.

 

[Cougar]

Now there’s a whole bunch of factors that can go either way in one’s success and or failure in life .

Right, and I think genetics is pretty low on the list. But I'm not saying it's so much up to you as up to the environment you grow up in.

 

[Rayk]

Right, and I think genetics is pretty low on the list. But I'm not saying it's so much up to you as up to the environment you grow up in.

Can’t argue that . My environment wasn’t great but that comes from my own perception and from a very young age .

Maybe it wasn’t that bad as things go but from my view it was horrible times . There’s no doubt that it shaped , or I should say that it that steered my life in set directions .

Now I can only wonder at how things would be different . Maybe I’d be a bit better off but maybe not . I would agree chances are I’d be a happier person during those times and that could definitely could have lead to better opportunities.

Unfortunately I beat myself down and my reactions to things are very much a result of my environment or is just how I’m wired to respond?

I turned out ok I think . I’m still very misunderstood at times and I’m very out spoken. I didn’t often use kid gloves but now I do my best to do so , up until a point . Lol

As to the DNA part I feel I’d still be within the same bubble or sphere of the type of work I do .

Now in my head I should rule the world Pinky ! Lol

That’s one reasons of my DNA search . Do I found my mom and all her children. Birth mom passed away before I could get info on whom my birth father was . She didn’t want to release that info and took it with her to the great beyond .

I have an idea with lots of help from DNA matches but even those families information aren’t enough to positively identify who dear O’l Pops was .

As result I don’t know what type of work or successes his off spring if he had any had .

That unknowing bugs the crap out of me . Lol

 

[Nuuska]

We know that my wife and her sister have an older brother - who was a "love child" before the mother was married - and so he was adopted to a couple who moved to USA. He was born 16 December 1952 - "new father" had name Edvin Arnold Palo.

My mother-in-law keeps her mouth tight about this - we have not asked either. How could we ?

Veer - in case any of you recognize that you are this person - then you'll be my brother-in-law.

Veer aside - I am not joking - my wife and her sister have suffered somewhat for decades because of this.

 

[Cougar]

Now I can only wonder at how things would be different.

Well, if you can wonder that, you can also make things different....

...within reason, of course.

 

[bobouz]

My hope is that through DNA testing, more people can learn about how difficult life was for so many of our ancestors, and the incredible odds that sometimes were overcome to put our cushy little rear ends on this planet. Armed with a well informed historical perspective, we may not be quite so quick to blindly repeat mistakes from the past.

 

[davismanLV]

My hope is that through DNA testing, more people can learn about how difficult life was for so many of our ancestors, and the incredible odds that sometimes were overcome to put our cushy little rear ends on this planet. Armed with a well informed historical perspective, we may not be quite so quick to blindly repeat mistakes from the past.

Thank you, thank you!! In my short time here I've realized that we all have contributions to make. Keep your ears open, and be aware of your past. Life has a lot to offer. And history even more.....

 

[GGJaguar]

more people can learn about how difficult life was for so many of our ancestors

Yes, this. Just one example that I found when researching my family was the high rate of mortality, especially for infants and children. And then there were the deaths from outbreak of diseases other than the usual childhood diseases that caused deaths. When I would see a surge in death records for a given year, I'd do a little digging and almost always found some sort of plague like influenza, typhoid from contaminated well water, etc. Sometimes it would bring me to tears seeing how my family (and others around them) suffered from losing their children. They were stronger and braver than me to get through all that. The one thing I learned that makes me angry is that until very recently (like the 20th Century), my ancestors we're illiterate. They didn't go to school and they couldn't read or write. Okay, enough sadness for today. I'm standing on their shoulders and I hope I made them proud in some way. Probably not my guitar playing, though.

 

[fronobulax]

My hope is that through DNA testing, more people can learn about how difficult life was for so many of our ancestors, and the incredible odds that sometimes were overcome to put our cushy little rear ends on this planet. Armed with a well informed historical perspective, we may not be quite so quick to blindly repeat mistakes from the past.

Of course just studying history without any DNA testing can have a similar effect. But things like King Philip's War or how the Puritans actually "practiced" religious freedom in pre-1700 Massachusetts become much more personal when there is a connection to the time and place, whether known through DNA or genealogy.

 

[Nuuska]

GGJaguar - others, too

There is a finnish professor - Esko Valtaoja - who has tradition of every year tell the students reasons why "In old days everything was better" is simply wrong. He is not trying to prove that everything is better now - but the essentials.

Unfortunately I can not find it in english - but what little of it I can remember is listed below

- childhood mortality has decreased
- murders of childs under 5 years have decreased
- murders of all age-classes have decreased
- life expectancy has gone up
- mortality because of various epidemics decreased
- relative poverty has decreased
- absolute poverty has decreased
- starving worldwise has decreased

and so on - he shows evidence to all his claims - like various public statistics

And connected to this - remembering how life was at 1960 or earlier - I can agree.

Naturally today we have different problems - just had an interesting discussion w my psychoterapist wife about one of her client, who is professionally quite successfull.

Modern times - modern problems

Future . . . .

 

[Roland]

"She took a couple DNA tests and found out that there is no native American in her. It was actually kind of devastating to her as her entire family believed they were and had identified with it culturally."

If few if any native Americans are in the database, you won't get a match.

I don't think that is the case. They are big into it and I think that the realization at this point is well established. I would be surprised if they haven't narrowed it down to who the fibber was by now.