DNA tests contradicted each other
Unveiling your ethnic ancestry can be as simple as a home-kit cheek swab or saliva test, DNA companies promise.
But in reality, the results aren’t simple or even that accurate, a Hamilton woman has found.
Gini Berggren was adopted and while she knew she was part Irish and Swedish on her mum’s side, she wanted to know about her paternal background.
A $150 saliva test through Ancestry NZ told her she was 61 per cent western European, 20 per cent Irish, 14 per cent Scandinavian, 4 per cent Great British and 1 per cent eastern
European.
Wondering whether a second test found the same, Berggren did a cheek swab test through My Heritage for $100.
She felt scammed when she saw the difference.
My Heritage found she was 79.3 per cent northern and western European, 17.3 per cent eastern European, 2.1 per cent north African and 1.3 per cent Nigerian. ‘‘I wondered, is it a scam? ‘‘They make millions and millions of dollars on this.
‘‘Most people would do it once and then go, well, that’s what I am.
Neither companies had made it clear that the tests weren’t completely accurate, Berggren said.
‘‘[After] the second one, I thought, well, I don’t know what I am now.
‘‘It kind of puts me back to square one.’’
DNA expert Dr Nic Rawlence said anyone getting the tests should go to at least two different companies.
Every company has a different database – made up of different DNA samples – which companies don’t share. Databases containing more European DNA will be more accurate for those of European descent.
‘‘The answer that you get is only as good as the database,’’ Rawlence said.
‘‘And only a specific part of the DNA is tested. And it doesn’t include mitochondrial DNA or the X and Y sex chromosomes, which can trace female and male lines back tens of thousands of years. They don’t sequence all of your DNA,’’ Rawlence said. ‘‘You [can] believe the general pattern – believe the big percentages ...
‘‘The more they break it down, the more sceptical you should become.’’