Genetic testing is an inexact science with real consequences

Re:Genetic testing is an inexact science with real consequences by skywhopper on Friday December 20, 2019 @04:26PM (#21847501)

Your comments are over the top. In re her grandma, the author was convinced by "science" but it turns out the claims made by 23 and Me were essentially a lie, in that they were given with far too much illusion of certainty.

In re the "probably total junk" comment, that's in reference to this: "companies are popping up every day, promising to use your DNA for everything from figuring out what wine or marijuana varietals your genetics predispose you to, to what skin care regimen is best for you". And the quote is spot on. There may be research pointing vaguely in those directions, but the reality is far more complex. And the chances that the actual science will appropriately inform the recommendations give to you by startup companies built around trying to make money off telling you "facts" like these based on your genome, it will absolutely and without question translate to "junk". Even if they could make correct predictions, there would be so much more money in bending the truth just a bit to satisfy advertisers and affiliates, that the end result would be junk, not science.

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Re:Genetic testing is an inexact science with real consequences by stickfigure on Friday December 20, 2019 @06:18PM (#21848249)

illusion of certainty

The notion of genetic ancestry is inherently fuzzy. What does the author think it means to be "Italian"? Humans didn't evolve in Italy, nobody is "from" there in a truly genetic sense.

On the other hand, some of the health information 23andme provides is significant and behavior-changing. I don't mean the "you have 5% higher risk of developing hangnails" trivia. I mean the "60% of people with your genetic factors develop deep vein thrombosis" warning - which a person I know found out, and immediately stopped taking hormonal birth control.

For me it was "no news is good news", but that's valuable information too. I consider 23andme a good service.

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Re:Genetic testing is an inexact science with real consequences by jaclaz on Saturday December 21, 2019 @05:07AM (#21850602)

I would add that - of all Italy - Sicily is one of the regions where historically everyone ruled (and lived) over the centuries:

Greeks

Carthaginians

Romans

Germans/Franks/Vandals

Bizantines

Arabs

French (Normans)

Germans

French again (Angevins)

Spaniards (Aragonese first and later unified Spain)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sicily

Even Vikings (briefly) ruled it: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Sicily#Viking_Age

So - from a DNA analysis - you can probably find traces in the population of practically every "race" that existed in the basin of the Mediterranean sea (including Europe, Africa and the middle East) and even part of northern Europe.

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Re:Genetic testing is an inexact science with real consequences by thaumasiotes on Friday December 20, 2019 @11:19PM (#21849589)

> Humans didn't evolve in Italy

Some of them did; some of them didn't. When did humans stop evolving?

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Re:Genetic testing is an inexact science with real consequences by cracker_jacks on Friday December 20, 2019 @05:23PM (#21847906)

Quoting individuals who make blanket statements like that without providing any evidence (or possess authority on the subject of genetic testing) is doing a disservice to actual viable applications of genetic testing, especially in the health domain.

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