this post was submitted on 01 Dec 2024
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[–] CodexArcanum@lemmy.world 66 points 3 weeks ago (2 children)

I had in some ways the opposite 23&Me experience and goals. My parents told me growing up that I had some small native ancestry. This is actually a common myth many Americans have either been told or somehow deluded themselves into believing.

So I did the DNA testing (which I now regret from all the obvious enshittification and privacy reasons) to prove that my ancestry was boring and predictable. Which it was, no indigenous ancestry, just the expected European countries that my great grandparents came from.

They also do a lot of nice health screening things and I think that's probably the much more valuable aspect of it. It really is very American that people are so much more concerned with what DNA says about one's race or ethnicity than about their health and wellbeing.

[–] tacosplease@lemmy.world 20 points 3 weeks ago

I'm worried about insurance companies getting it and changing rates/services based on my DNA.

[–] pineapplelover@lemm.ee 1 points 2 weeks ago

Per their terms and conditions

The Services are not intended to tell you anything about your current state of health, or to be used to make medical decisions, including whether or not you should take a medication, how much of a medication you should take, or determine any treatment.

https://www.23andme.com/legal/terms-of-service/

It also seems to be a data harvesting machine that probably has ties to Google

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/23andme-is-terrifying-but-not-for-the-reasons-the-fda-thinks/