RDUSA201905

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If you send your DNA to two

different companies to find out

your ancestry, you may end up

with two different results. That’s

because there’s no certification

required for DNA-testing companies,

and their methods aren’t indepen-

dently validated, says Tufts University

professor Sheldon Krimsky, PhD,

board chair of the Council for Re-

sponsible Genetics. “They may get

the basic idea correct—that you are

a little less than half northern Euro-

pean, for example,” he says. “But

when they say you’re 30 percent

from here and 60 percent from

there, it’s a statistical guess based

on their own proprietary database

and the statistical method they use.”

By Michelle Crouch

Surprising

Facts About

At-Home

DNA Tests

20 may 2019 illustration by Serge Bloch

Reader’s Digest

13 THINGS