2
Your results
will be less pre-
cise if you’re not
European. The more
people from your an-
cestral region in a
company’s database,
the more accurate your
results will be, says
Hank Greely, director
of the Center for Law
and the Biosciences at
Stanford Law School.
Many Americans have
northern and western
European ancestry,
and some evidence
indicates they’re more
likely to use DNA test-
ing. “Even results from
southern and eastern
Europe aren’t as accu-
rate,” Greely says.3
If you’re Native
American or
African American,
no DNA test can tell you
what tribe your ances-
tors belonged to. Testing
companies that claim
they can are misleading
you, says Greely.4
You can find
out your risk of
diseases such as
cancer and Alzheimer’s
from an at-home DNAtest kit, but a laboratory
certified to do medical
testing will give you
much more conclusive
results. One small study
found that 40 percent of
at-home test kits were
wrong about predicting
genetic abnormalities.
That said, many doctors
support at-home testing
so people can take
preventive steps sooner.5
The results of
your genetic testing
could affect your
ability to get insurance.
While federal law pro-
hibits health insurers
from denying coverage
based on genetic test
results, the law does
not apply to life, dis-
ability, and long-term-
care insurance. In most
states, an insurance
company can legally
ask for the results of
your DNA test. “If
you’re planning to
get long-term-care or
life insurance, buy it
before you get tested,”
Greely suggests.6
Law-enforcement
agencies are in-
creasingly usingfamily tree DNA data-
bases to solve crimes,
as was done in the ar-
rest of a former police
officer accused of being
the Golden State Killer.
California detectives
took the DNA results
from various crime
scenes, looked for par-
tial matches on a public
genealogy database,
and eventually found
their man.7
Of course, that
also means a rela-
tive’s DNA could
make you a suspect—
even if you’re innocent.
Exhibit A: New Orleans
filmmaker Michael
Usry was identified
as a murder suspect
based on a genetic
sample his father had
submitted years earlier
as part of a church ge-
nealogy project. Usry
was eventually cleared
after further testing
showed his DNA didn’t
match the evidence
from the crime scene.
Privacy advocates op-
pose the government’s
ability to use familial
DNA, and Maryland
and Washington, DC,rd.com 21