Recreational DNA Tests: Risks, Reliability, and Societal Implications

Recreational DNA Tests: Reliability, Risks, Societal Impact, and Ethical Issues in Modern Genealogy.

Recreational DNA Tests: Risks, Reliability, and Societal Implications

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The DNA Journey: How to Make a Buzz About DNA

A video went viral on Youtube and Facebook, gathering over 120 million views. Called The DNA Journey, it features several people of different colors, ages, and nationalities. All are convinced they know their origins, be it « 100% English » or « 100% Indian ». They are offered the opportunity to take a DNA test to verify this. Each one is shaken by the results, with completely unexpected origins, and one young woman even discovers a cousin in the audience. 


While this video has an advertising purpose as it was created for Momondo’s online travel agency campaign, Let’s Open Our World, its slogan still resonates with one of today’s societal trends: DNA research, through its message « Would you dare to question who you really are? » In French: Will you dare to discover who you really are?


In France, unlike other countries, the use of DNA is not authorized, except for paternity tests, accepted only by court decision, for medical purposes, or for scientific research. However, you can easily order them from foreign websites. Moreover, the 1978 Data Protection Act, as well as the General Data Protection Regulation, applicable across Europe since May 2018, prohibit the collection and online posting of any ethnic and medical data, which is what companies offering DNA tests do. Because it’s no secret that for these websites, this is a real business, with prices ranging from 80 to 1000 euros on average, depending on the expected level of detail. Taking a recreational DNA test in France can result in a 3750€ fine.


How Does a Recreational DNA Test Work?

A single saliva test can provide information about an individual’s origins, as well as valuable information about their children, parents, brothers and sisters...


There are three types of tests:


  • Mitochondrial DNA test (mtDNA). It can be performed on both men and women and focuses on our maternal genetic heritage. It allows us to trace our oldest female ancestor. 


  • Y-chromosome test. This one is passed down unchanged from father to son. Therefore, it is exclusively for men and allows tracing the paternal line. 


  • Autosomal test, which tests DNA inherited from both parents to their child. Autosomal DNA is passed down by both mother and father. This test will highlight mutations on the 22 non-sex chromosomes that are attributed to a particular population. From these mutations, it will therefore indicate genetic origins and allow measuring the degree of kinship between two people.


For ethnic research, it is therefore the autosomal test that will be used. This research can be quite precise. However, the reliability of these tests is somewhat relative. Indeed, they are based on the principle that certain segments of our DNA can be linked to particular geographic areas.

For example, haplogroup 2-234 is very present in Ethiopia, but much less so in the Caucasus. If this marker is only an indication, combining several of them can build a much more precise genealogical table.


Each geographic area has a reference population database, which, when compared to the tests performed and the chromosome segments obtained, determines a percentage of match. While these tests are relatively reliable for large groups like African Americans, it is almost impossible to confirm belonging to an African or Indonesian ethnic group, and there are also many peoples that science has not yet studied. Moreover, the population mixing that occurred in Europe for many years and now worldwide only allows for relative reliability. 


Recreational DNA Tests Raising Many Questions


The storage of saliva samples used for these tests, or the results obtained, raise many questions. Indeed, there is no certainty that they will not be used for research projects, or even sold to labs other than genetic ones. Moreover, the very principle of these genetic databases is based on the notion of sharing, in order to contact people with a similar genetic profile and continue research together. Genetic discretion is no longer ensured, even if one takes a test without the aim of meeting distant cousins.


Moreover, these tests are strongly criticized by the French Society of Human Genetics due to the deviations associated with misinterpretations of the results of these tests, and the dangers that can result from them.


For example, the Canadian Home Office’s border agency created a pilot project to prevent fraud among asylum seekers by determining their nationality through DNA tests. In this same country, the use of this data is debated, as there is no legislation against genetic discrimination. Thus, a person taking a genetic test may be forced to disclose the results, and people have lost their jobs or been denied insurance due to the results of certain DNA tests, which can reveal predispositions to diseases like Alzheimer’s. 


In any case, one should not forget that genetic genealogy does not compete with traditional genealogy; rather, it appears as a tool that complements it where civil records are lacking.



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