Aggregated News
Genetic tests sold directly to consumers to help people trace their ancestry are imperfect and may lead some people to draw unfounded conclusions about their heritage, a report on the tests released on Thursday found.
More than 40 companies, including 23andMe Inc in Mountain View, California, in which Google has invested, and privately held Pathway Genomics Corp in San Diego, sell the tests to consumers.
They are not intended to provide insight into health information. Instead, the tests give a rough estimation of a person's genetic ancestry.
But the growing popularity of the tests, which are not regulated, has raised some concerns among genetic experts who fear consumers are not fully aware of their limitations.
"A major issue regarding commercial ancestry testing is that there is no quality assurance guarantee," according to a report led by researchers at Duke University on behalf of the American Society of Human Genetics and published in The American Journal of Human Genetics.
Joann Boughman, executive vice president of the American Society of Human Genetics, said genetic ancestry testing is very useful for understanding genetic...
More than 40 companies, including 23andMe Inc in Mountain View, California, in which Google has invested, and privately held Pathway Genomics Corp in San Diego, sell the tests to consumers.
They are not intended to provide insight into health information. Instead, the tests give a rough estimation of a person's genetic ancestry.
But the growing popularity of the tests, which are not regulated, has raised some concerns among genetic experts who fear consumers are not fully aware of their limitations.
"A major issue regarding commercial ancestry testing is that there is no quality assurance guarantee," according to a report led by researchers at Duke University on behalf of the American Society of Human Genetics and published in The American Journal of Human Genetics.
Joann Boughman, executive vice president of the American Society of Human Genetics, said genetic ancestry testing is very useful for understanding genetic...