[mdlug] DNA Insights - Sequence or test your DNA for health reasons

[Steve Litt]

On Mon, 8 Dec 2025 12:40:50 -0600
Gib <gibmaxn at gmail.com> wrote:

> What do you folks think about getting your DNA tested?
> 
> I see on-line sites that start at a cost of about $300 that will
> provide details related to thousands of conditions.
> 
> Computers and AI are making this possible.  What other advances have
> we seen?

This is offtopic but what the heck...

I would NEVER get my DNA tested. Doing so would put my relatives,
current and future, in danger of arrest, via the wonders of
Investigative Genetic Genealogy.

I know what you're thinking: Your relatives wouldn't commit crimes.
I'll bet every single person on this list has committed a crime and not
been caught, and I'll bet some have committed felonies. Don't forget
that what's perfectly acceptable behavior in one state can be a felony
in another.

Imagine in 1985 your Uncle George beat the living shit out of some
clown who was threatening a woman. And when the bad guy turned and ran,
your Uncle George chased him down and broke several of the guy's bones.
The guy died of his wounds six weeks later. Unfortunately, Uncle George
got a little of his blood on the guy, and that evidence was preserved.
Because none of us are lawyers, every one of us would probably applaud
Uncle George's actions, but in the eyes of the law, it's some form of
homicide.

Uncle George lived an exemplary life afterward, but now some cold case
guy goes to reinvestigate the thing, hires a genetic investigator who
finds your DNA, determines it was a close relative of yours, and via a
very easy investigation of all your living relatives, and finds out
it's your 70 year old Uncle George, loving husband, father of three,
grandfather of 11, and now Uncle George will probably spend his
remaining days in prison.

Laws change. Imagine your great-granddaughter committing the crime of
helping an unmarried woman have a baby. Your great-granddaughter's
sweat gets on the blanket, the DNA squad compares that sweat to your
DNA, and instead of it being one person in eight billion, it's one
person in a few hundred.

Imagine some future time when the economy is ten times worse than the
Great Depression. Your great-great-grandson steals a loaf of bread and
is knifed by the grocer but gets away, after bleeding on the
artichokes. The DNA squad checks the records, finds your DNA, narrows
it down to your descendants, and puts the kid away for 30 years.

There are also problems with health insurance if and when we go back to
preexistingcare, which looks like it will happen in the next five
years. There are problems with drug companies patenting things based on
your DNA such that you must pay a sky high price for these new genetic
cures they're coming up with.

Don't   do   it   !



SteveT

Steve Litt 
Featured book: Troubleshooting Techniques of the Successful
Technologist http://www.troubleshooters.com/techniques