prohibit its use in crim-
inal cases.8
Your genetic in-
formation may be
sold to the highest
bidder—whether that’s
a university or pharma-
ceutical company that
wants to use it for re-
search or a company
mining it for profit, says
Peter J. Pitts, president
of the Center for Medi-
cine in the Public Inter-
est. Ask the testing
company or read the
small print before sign-
ing off.9
There’s another
privacy issue: In
2017, the e-mails
and passwords of more
than 92 million users of
the genealogy website
myheritage.com were
hacked, while Ances-
try’s RootsWeb server
exposed the e-mails,
usernames, and pass-
words of 300,000 users.10
The market
is also explod-
ing with compa-
nies claiming they
can pinpoint the right
product—for your skin
or your waistline, for
instance—based on
a DNA test. But con-
sider them entertain-
ment rather than real
science, Greely says.
A study found that
diets based on genetic
tests didn’t help people
lose weight.11
Still, DNA tests
can answer ques-
tions you’ve had
about yourself—and
ones you didn’t know
to ask. For example,
for an additional cost,
23andMe will include
your results on more
than 25 individual
traits, including if you
are likely to be a morn-
ing person, whether
your hatred of cilantro
is genetic, and if yourearwax is more likely
to be dry or wet.12
Dozens of
companies
market DNA
tests to coaches and
parents that claim to
predict a child’s athletic
prospects. But there’s
little science behind
them, according to
more than a dozen ex-
perts in genomics and
sports performance.13
Your DNA test-
ing may reveal
family secrets.
In just one among
many such stories, a
23andMe user who
tested himself and his
parents for a class he
was teaching on genet-
ics unearthed a half
brother. The revelation
“uncorked” emotions
with his family, he
wrote on vox.com, and
his parents eventually
divorced.A Little Help Here!
Everybody wants to save the earth;
nobody wants to help Mom do the dishes.
p. j. o’rourke, writerReader’s Digest 13 Things
22 may 2019 | rd.com