http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24173094
Last year I figured it would be fun to purchase a DNA ancestry kit. The average cost for a DNA test that traces your likely ancestral origins costs between 300-400 dollars on average. You pay them, they send you little swabs and containers. You swab your mouth a few times, send the kit in, and voila! A few weeks later, they send you a report on your ancestral origins. Pretty neat, eh?
The problem: Once the kit arrived, I wasn't able to go through with it. A nagging feeling in the back of my mind kept telling me that my DNA would end up in some massive database, and the people storing it would eventually be forced to hand the information over to the government.
I do realize how absolutely paranoid that sounds. I have no history of mental illness. The idea just really bothered me. I decided to take a bit of time to think about submitting my DNA to the ancestry service. The more I thought about it, the more I decided against it.
This evening I was having dinner and drinks with a girlfriend and this very topic came up. My friend's father was adopted and she's always wanted to know her paternal ancestry. A service like this would have been ideal.
I've never been arrested, I have nothing to hide, so why should I care? When I ran across the article above this evening, I began to think about what other uses the government could have for my DNA.
Do you feel this is a violation of your privacy? Do you feel they are justified in taking it? How do you feel about this?