I'm trying to figure out why people even want them. What would it really tell you about your ancestry if anything? If you are encouraged to do DNA and then store or keep it in some database you can rest assured that the authorities will have your DNA. This is probably what it is really all about. Otherwise it's just companies wanting to make money.

Everybody's DNA ancestry winds up in Africa, eventually. What more do you need to know?

These companies are capitalizing on our more rootless culture, in a time when families have split up and spread across the country and sometimes around the world, as opposed to decades ago when several generations of an extended family might live in the same town and have family history and lore at their fingertips. They also (in their ads) appeal those who want to "trace" their DNA back across the ocean to families broken up by the slave trade. Since DNA has at best a tenuous connection to national origin, all this strikes me as promising much more than they can deliver.

I always liked Marketplace... Mostly good CBC reporting.
There are strict laws in Canada about access to personal information and these companies will be scrutinized severly if there were breached in some ways. That is not the case in the US.

What's the saying, "trust but verify". If the science is not there where's the verification. My family has gotten into this but, for me, what's the point? Thank you again for your valid, skeptics report!

Oh good...my results indicated I was far more white European than I thought I was!!

Science is sound, but methodology is unregulated. Poor application and quality control.

There is be made!

Thank you.

I know many people who have spent money on such test and told me they are such and such % "viking", "Jewish", or " English". I gently as possible tell them that such notions are cultural and not natural categories, and the genes do not have nationalities.

I tested on two sites in order to find family since my mother was adopted.

I have been quite successful in finding relatives I did not know about despite not finding the two people I am seeking. Yet.

Here are my DNA results from ancestry.com...

Fun!
I'm from the Netherlands and as can be expected from a line of people that had to struggle to come around. Day-laborers or serving the rich in one or another way. Just like most people did. 1% enjoys, 99% struggles. That's all that counts for me. I would be interested in a kind of a social DNA, based on income, social status, and living circumstances.

I just don't see myself spending that much just to know what my mix is. I am happier just fantasizing about it or just going on what we know about our family tree. Im also afraid of privacy breaches.