[privacy] Web sites offer DNA testing

["Richard M. Smith" <rms () computerbytesman com>]

http://www.boston.com/business/technology/articles/2007/10/23/web_sites_offe
r_dna_testing/

Web sites offer DNA testing


By Anick Jesdanun, AP Internet Writer  |  October 23, 2007

NEW YORK --Two services launching just a week apart tap a growing interest
in DNA testing to help people find their ancestors and learn more about
their lives.

GeneTree, which opens Tuesday, and  <http://ancestry.com/> Ancestry.com,
which started its DNA Ancestry service last Tuesday, both sell DNA kits for
less than $200. Users can build online family trees and contact others with
DNA matches to compare family histories.

Genealogy research has become popular in recent years as online services
improve access to vast databases of immigration, military and other records
from around the world. According to the Pew Internet and American Life
Project, a quarter of Internet users have researched their ancestors online.

Lately, many of them have been turning to DNA testing to uncover additional
clues, said Dick Eastman, who writes a newsletter about online genealogy.
Although DNA won't provide all the answers, such as names and precise dates,
he said, it could open new leads.

"Anybody who's got a mystery is going to do this sooner or later, and that's
a pretty high percentage of us," Eastman said.

That's particularly true of black Americans, many of whom have trouble
tracing roots beyond the slavery era, Eastman said. Eastern Europeans, Jews
and certain other groups also find records fragmented, he said.

GeneTree and Ancestry join services from Family Tree DNA and others.

James Lee Sorenson, GeneTree's chief executive, said he believes his site
stands out for its exclusive access to records from the nonprofit Sorenson
Molecular Genealogy Foundation. The group has collected DNA samples from
100,000 individuals worldwide and conducted ancestry research on them to
produce a larger database of 6 million people.

Ancestry, based in Provo, Utah, is building its DNA database largely from
scratch; company officials say they are on track to capture the genetic
profiles of 50,000 people within six months.

GeneTree is the latest project from Sorenson and his father, medical-device
entrepreneur and billionaire James LeVoy Sorenson. The Salt Lake City-based
initiative pulls technologies from the Sorenson foundation and two Sorenson
companies.

Both GeneTree and Ancestry use DNA test kits from Sorenson Genomics.

GeneTree sends mouthwash that users swirl in their mouths, spit into a
container and mail back for $99 or $149, depending on how much DNA the user
wants analyzed. With Ancestry, users return a cheek swab. Ancestry offers a
greater variety of tests; the one comparable to GeneTree's higher-end
offering costs $179.

Besides finding matches, DNA patterns can help assess the likely origins of
an individual's ancestors thousands of years ago, allowing the user to then
visually trace migration backward to the first humans, widely believed to
hail from Africa.

...

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