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23 and me

Lambda Ray

Student
L
Joined
Jan 21, 2006
Messages
34
I have had no success to locate a thread on 23 and me.

23andme [ctrl, enter] (Newbie without permissions...)

Hence I take the liberty to start a new one, and humbly apologize if there is one already.

I read about it recently and had many objections, while at the same time marvelled at the possibilities for research and what could come out of it in terms of discoveries. Having read the disclaimer I immediately put it off my to-do list as my curiosity was no match to my concerns.

However, after some more thinking, I changed my mind and ordered the kit (USD 399.-) and I am just about to fedex it over.

Just wanted to check the forum if anyone else have strong opinions either way.

Kind Regards,
 
Why do you want to do it? learn something about ancestry, learn something about genetic pre-disposition to disease/disorder?

I think both have a good potential cool factor, but I'm not sure how useful the information is. Does it do you any good to know that you are 20% less likely than average to develop type 2 diabetes?

I'd also have some small concerns about the data falling into the hands o my health insurance provider.
 
madurobob said:
Why do you want to do it? learn something about ancestry, learn something about genetic pre-disposition to disease/disorder?
Click to expand...

This is not why I am fascinated by the concept, and actually I would prefer it to be a free service where I did not get to see my own results. With these prices they also can't expect to get a good coverage from around the world and the results will be skewed.
But I am really interested to see what researchers using the database combined with queries to the community can find out about hereditary conditions.

madurobob said:
I'd also have some small concerns about the data falling into the hands o my health insurance provider.
Click to expand...

100% in agreement, and it was the main reason why I opted out at first. However, I live in a part of the world where I am not obliged to divulge any knowledge of my gene bank to my insurance company. Yes it may change, but hey, how can science progress if we are not prepared to take any risks? :p
 
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Lambda Ray said:
But I am really interested to see what researchers using the database combined with queries to the community can find out about hereditary conditions.
Click to expand...
I agree that this could be a great boon to science. With a large enough sample size we could learn a lot about trends in populations, migration, spread of disease, etc... If someone asked to gather a sample form me with no identifying information I'd agree in a heartbeat.

FWIW - I think $300 is comparatively cheap, They were $1000 not too long ago.
 
madurobob said:
...FWIW - I think $300 is comparatively cheap...
Click to expand...

Couldn't resist: 399 >> 300
The cheapest trick in the book and you fell for it... :)

Otherwise, a "non-profit (governmental?) DNA-sampling-unified-world-project" would definitely be more to my taste.

Anyway, I will post some more thoughts when I receive the results in 6-8 weeks.
 
sorry to bring back an old topic but I was thinking about getting this done at 23andme and was wondering what I am not thinking about!

OP, how'd it go?
 
Lambda Ray said:
I have had no success to locate a thread on 23 and me.

23andme [ctrl, enter] (Newbie without permissions...)

Hence I take the liberty to start a new one, and humbly apologize if there is one already.

I read about it recently and had many objections, while at the same time marvelled at the possibilities for research and what could come out of it in terms of discoveries. Having read the disclaimer I immediately put it off my to-do list as my curiosity was no match to my concerns.

However, after some more thinking, I changed my mind and ordered the kit (USD 399.-) and I am just about to fedex it over.

Just wanted to check the forum if anyone else have strong opinions either way.

Kind Regards,
Click to expand...

I've found that 230andme.com is ten times better.
 
20vturbo said:
sorry to bring back an old topic but I was thinking about getting this done at 23andme and was wondering what I am not thinking about!

OP, how'd it go?
Click to expand...

About as expected, no breaking news, one interesting thing in that I had an elevated risk of Sjogren's Syndrome, which my grandmother suffered from. Others were Parkinson and some other more or less normal diseases and conditions. Now, I am quite comfortable with a 100% increased risk of Sjogren's or others, we're talking 0.03% as compared to 0.015% or something, but if one is statistically challenged or otherwise tend to worry too much I can see that it is not for all. (I would NEVER tell my sister about this...)

Other things they do is to send you some surveys to answer (I do them all) which are for reasearchers to look for patterns. Also, there seem to be great interest in finding ancestry, seems to be the most engaging on the discussion forums. Possibly more interesting for 5th generation immigrants to the US than an inbread Norwegian who can trace them all back to the black plague... :)

A new "relative finder" feature is quite cool, got a few mails from probable 3rd and 4th cousins in Minnesota and Dakota and thereabouts.

All in all, I don't regret spending the money. Hope it helps.

Arthwollipot:
The Quantum Entanglement Device was not included in my package. That's a bargain!
 
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