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US GENETIC TESTING company 23andMe has filed for bankruptcy and is looking for a new buyer.
The company says 15 million customers have used the service for ancestry and health information since it was founded in 2006.
In the bankruptcy filing, 23andMe has said it agrees to pay $37.5m (€34.7m) in settlements following a 2023 hacking incident. Almost 7 million accounts were affected by the data breach.
The announcement has been met with warnings for customers to ask the company to delete their data.
Geoffrey Fowler, a tech columnist for the Washington Post, has said that there is a risk “that your data could get sold or transferred to a new company, which might want to use it for new purposes”.
So today we’re asking: Would you submit your DNA for ancestry testing?
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Mine came back 40% flour, 30% water, 3% yeast, 3% salt, 4% butter and 20% cheese. Seemed accurate enough.
@Cheese Sandwich: Not enough to be considered VAT free.
Read the terms. They OWN your DNA!!!
@Notty Tee: sometimes I think what with the amount of multi account trolls on here their ‘ lineage’ wouldn’t go further back than Mother giving em’ first smartphone.
@Mary Linton: hilarious
@Philip Kennedy: cheers
I did, no surprises really, the standard 99.9% Irish and 0.1% African like all of us. It was interesting to see how accuratw it was for health markers like my asthma and dislike of certain foods! There was an opt out option to not share results with any third party. As an aside it can be used in the United States to track criminals who haven’t been entered into the police database previously, thankfully we have robust Data Protection in Europe.
@Jacintha Dumbrell: Seems like you’ve got something to hide
@Jacintha Dumbrell: i was 70% irish or Scottish or english 20% Scandinavian and 10% middle eastern. So how is it 99.9% like all of us?
@Jacintha Dumbrell: what provider did you use?
@tony hilton: I meant the 0.1%.
@Mr “JonnieBoy” Johnson: 23&Me, takes a long time to get results, at least 2 months.
@Darren Cooney: I once smuggled Kinder eggs into the US from Canada, but I was wearing gloves so should be okay.
You can send anything into those companies and they’ll give you a report. Someone sent their dog’s salvia in and got a detailed report on ‘their’ ethnicity etc.
@Ronan Mc: Hahaha, very funny.
@Ronan Mc: Hope you’re right. Mine came back with 49% English, 20% German and the rest Irish. I’m a might perturbed.
@Mies Valkenburg: mite
@Mies Valkenburg: As long as you didn’t come back German Shepherd!
@Mies Valkenburg: 20% German? I wonder where that came from MIES!
@Desmond Lyons: Thank you, Dezmond.
I thought about, but I might find out I am related to someone I don’t like. I already have enough of them as it is.
@Emily Dalton: abs you might find out something interesting not like we can find anything past 1911 here . Yet anyone in tv can
Did mine about 8 years ago with Ancestry. The results showed a broad spectrum ranging from Ireland as far as Italy and also some Scandinavian. Although the DNA itself doesn’t change, your results do. Every year my results are more and more detailed. This is due to more people submitting samples for analysis.
All ready have done
@Karen Marten: I got the results I wanted to know about my great grand father where he came from I had some vauge idea and was very interesting.
80% Irish 16.7% Scottish & Welsh
2.6% Breton
Which means Celtic
Are you mad? Surveillance state.
@Luas Vuitton – Penneys Drag Queen: I doubt if anyone would be interested in an old Drama-Queen like you!
@Brian Hunt: hilarious .computer says no
If you get arrested you can get it done for free
I submitted mine and they told me I was left-handed.
I did this. We knew as a family we hailed from France and Italy and where descendents of Michel Champ from Fenestrelle in Italy. The DNA confirmed that part of the world. We alsonhave 75% Irosh, Scots and Welsh. What was really fascinating was 14% was slavic. Now, I had nonodea of that. I got my 80+ year old mum to do the test, and she came back with 17% slavic. Absolutely fascinating stuff. No idea where it came from.
Seems like a pure Yank thing to do. They’ve no idea of their heritage over there past what college team they support.
I’m comfortable enough knowing both sides of my family have strong Cork/Kerry roots.
@David Guiney: it gives some interesting health insights too, mine said I had a high chance of developing type 2 diabetes and sure enough here I am, injecting pig juice
I would be open to it depending which measures are in place to privacy and after what time it would be destroyed.
I did about 9 years ago. I have French and English ancestry. I’m also about 3% Norwegian. My parents did likewise and my Dad’s results show that he’s 100% Irish which I didn’t think was possible. As far as I know I’m about 68% Irish myself.
I’ve no doubt this is an advertisement for a private profit-making company, the idea that for a small fee, a panel of anthropologists, with a modern laboratory at their disposal, can tell you your genetic make-up is,to me, doubtful in the least!
@Brian Hunt: ‘doubtful’ at best ‘
I’ll send my snot, so see what they send back :)
“I just took a DNA test…” (keep it going)
Deoxy-rybo-nucleic-acid. Yes, I know I massacred the spelling, but don’t you just live the phrase?!?
I don’t want to learn that I might be descended from cattle raiders and horse thieves.
I did. Found it was very accurate. Traced a long lost relative .
A lot of murderers, particularly in America, have been caught by relatives of theirs, voluntarily submitting their DNA to ancestry companies. Specialists can then match up the DNA left behind at the murder scene, to the culprit’s relatives.
I think this is a very good thing and quite frankly I am sick and tired of these civil liberties people complaining. These are the types that usually complain about anything and everything, won’t volunteer to do anything, etc
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