23andme.com... Anyone Done It?
 

I did. Just got my results in. I pretty much prefer to be in denial about most things, but when it comes to technology helping me understand my future, and arming me with info to improve my odds, I'm all over it. Pretty much all good news in the test, although I am at increased risk for several diseases. Awesome service and one I would highly recommend for most.

Curious... do most people have the balls to view this type of data?

I will not be doing that.

Have thought about it but would want to be 10000% sure that the info, whatever they might find, is not turned over to any insurance concern or the govt.

Am not having any problems that I have not known about for a while. Did do a "full body scan" 5-6 years ago after two friends passed due to problems and it came back negative so am not really concerned. Still might be nice to know more...

This is an intriguing process but I do worry about the accuracy of it and about the confidentiality of the personal information collected. The governments GINA protection act certainly has a weak name/acronym which doesn't inspire confidence not to mention the fact that the government has been known to snoop as well as breaches of computer security by hackers are common. Not to sound paranoid but our world is increasingly an information age which can be for or against you. I don't want to find out I'm related to a serial killer or criminal mastermind or something:eek:

Anyone done this and found the known info you receive back to be a little off?

Motion- did you find the info fairly enlightening and useful?

I know absolutely nothing about my history as I have no known blood relations so I wouldn't be able to vet any of the info whatsoever- It would all be new info

I hear these individual DNA screening kits are not real worthwhile (yet) - I'm hearing that from medical faculty BTW

Will I be doing it?

Negative Ghostrider.

I guess if I wanted to know my genetic profile I would just look long and hard at my parents and grandparents. hmmmm...Some things are better left as a surprise.

Nothing too surprising. I am potentially carrying Cystic Fibrosis. One young member of my extended family has it, so we knew it was in our bloodline somewhere. I had always thought I was at risk for Alzheimer's and prostate cancer, based on family history, and the test confirmed that I am at heightened risk, although not at really high levels. I haven't digested everything yet, but nothing really surprising. The test also includes information about various aspects of the testing, such as male baldness, hair thickness, familial origins, height, intelligence, etc. I found that info to be mostly hit and miss. All in all, very interesting.

Why?

Why?

I'd be interested in knowing why they aren't accurate. I know some of the info is compared to a database of research, which lends itself to being inaccurate, but other elements must be fairly solid.

The pattern is full

not inaccurate, incomplete

Damn funny!!

JA

I would only do this anonymously. Drop off the specimen cash in hand, no ID, get a customer number and pick up the envelope with my results with my number on it when they are done. No way in hell would I have something like this done with my name in play and certainly not in an online format ...

But then the next question is why you need this info? Like others mentioned above, your family history will tell you everything you need to know. The tendency of developing cancers, heart disease, mental problems etc. is not passed down jumping more than a generation. If you have anything serious in the family up to the level of your grandparents, you already have your answer .... I suppose there are folks with not enough family history available, which probably would benefit from such a test.

Cheers,

George

Dr. Lexus from the movie Idiocracy Video

NSFW due to language

And it begins... Gattaca (1997) - IMDb

How long before we're (secretly) testing the DNA of a "potential" mate?

OR... How long before a DNA test is part of a Pre Nuptial agreement?

We're going to see some utterly amazing things over the next 20 years!

You own DNA? Test away. Why not? Personally I don't care. This was always inevitable.

Great idea - I'd love to know what if anything I'm predisposed to or at risk for, but as many have mentioned above there's no way I'm going to do this because of the potential privacy risks. Insurance companies or government bureaucrats getting their hands on my genetic profile? No way in hell. Not taking that risk. I'd rather remain ignorant so long as I know they are too.

Looks interesting. I don't have much family history, since my family is all overseas. I'm not intimidated by findings, because it's in my DNA, something over which I have no control.

Lotion, how do you feel about the privacy/confidentiality issues?
jurgen

I have better things to worry about.

I did some research on privacy before I jumped into this. There are quite a few blogs out there talking about 23andme's service, and privacy implications. This is a pretty good summary, found on one of the blogs:



- Right now, genetic testing is next to useless for insurance companies, even if they wanted to use the results to stratify applicants into high and low risk pools. We just don't know enough about the genotype-phenotype correlations to really make accurate assessments of how most SNPs will influence your health in the long term (with a very few notable exceptions).

- Even if you were to take your information and post it publicly, you would be afforded some protection by the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA). You can read a decent primer on GINA, or go straight to the GINA information for health-care providers, provided by the HHS. Note that GINA does not cover long-term care insurance, life insurance, and disability insurance.

- Some knowledgeable people believe the risk to be very low. George Church is heading the Personal Genomes Project, where an increasingly large group of individuals will be posting their complete genetic information and health histories online. This is intended to further research, but also show that genetic sequencing is nothing to fear. Others are a bit more cautious than Church and remain convinced that the insurance companies will manage to find a loophole and screw them anyway.

- 23andMe has a high incentive to keep your data private, and I'd expect their system to be at least as secure as say, a bank or brokerage firm, on a technical level. If they want to be a player in the burgeoning medical informatics field (and they do), your data will be well guarded and not used for nefarious purposes.

Personally, I wouldn't be worried about 23andMe, and would jump at the chance to get it done if it were less expensive. I'd still be a little hesitant to make my data completely public, as the PGP is doing.

-http://ask.metafilter.com/135748/Privacy-implications-of-23andme

I don’t want to know. I am not worried about my DNA going to anyone or anything like that. I just do not want to know.

What if the test comes back and says you have 90% chance to get cancer. OK great there is no cure for cancer so what did it really tell me. You could take steps to live healthy but there is still 90% chance you will get cancer, right? I prefer not to know these things.

But there is a cure for a lot of cancer types: Prevention

If this screening helps you prevent a disease, why not?

"Lotion"

http://www.racingskin.com/forum/imag...classiclol.gif

to the original question... that's a pretty cool service. I'd be interested to see some sort of outside/independent review of it.

Analysis of 23andMe's Genotyping: High Accuracy of Illumina Platform Confirmed by Comparing Siblings | The Chromosome Chronicles

Cancers and the like that you may have a greater susceptality for can be prevented? Hmmm. I would like to know more. CF, MD and MS have genetic links and as far as I know there isn't much you can do if you have those genes.

My wife has RP which has blinded her. There is no cure and no prevention. Our children have a 50% chance of having it. We have not tested them. With RP you can have the gene and never go blind, or slowly go blind over many many years or quickly go blind in a mater of months at anytime in your life.

So, I ask you this. Would you want to know if you had it? Would you want to know if your kids had that gene? Would you tell them?

Tough questions huh? I would love to know your answers because I am struggling with this now...

If a cancer is detected early on, there is a much better chance for survival later. Knowing you might be predisposed to a certain type of cancer will make you that much more diligent when it comes to preventative checkups and tests. That seems like a no-lose to me.

Your example, RP. Mike, you're kids are already here, so that part may be a bit late for you to change. OK, so if you know they are carrying the gene, maybe you could guide them in a certain career direction where, God forbid, they do become blind later in life, they would still be able to thrive without eyesight?

Just an example. I'm sure there are a million scenarios where the information would be beneficial.