‘Most people don’t realise the power of these tests, and the can of worms they can open’

THOUSANDS of us will have received ancestry testing kits in our Christmas stockings this year, with the promise of a fascinating journey of self-discovery. Will we learn, like Danny Dyer in TV show Who Do You Think You Are?, that royal blood flows through our veins? Or will we find out, like Ant McPartlin on Ant & Dec’s DNA Journey, that we are descended from a celebrated war hero? Maybe the test will uncover exotic secrets from the past, such as DNA links to Viking or native American forebears. Or maybe it will just fill in the gaps in our family tree.

But what few consider, when they hand over as little as £49 for the test kit, is that dispatching a sample of saliva in a test tube can, in some cases, set off an emotional time bomb with life-changing repercussions.

Take the case of Nicki Field, 50, who used a DNA matching kit to track down her father. The married mother-of-four had been told, aged 13, by her mother that the man she believed to be her father was not in fact her biological dad.

Three decades on, the Cambridgeshire secondary school teacher decided to try to find her real father – and any half-siblings she might have.

Having sent her DNA to website Ancestry for testing, a match was found to a stranger, who turned out to be a first cousin.

Further enquiries revealed that his uncle was Nicki’s biological father. Filled with excitement, she prepared to make contact, but her journey of discovery came to a sad end.

Her father, who had four other children and conceived Nicki through an affair with her mother, refused to accept her as his daughter.

“It was devastating to be told that neither he, nor any of his children, with whom I share an obvious family resemblance, wanted me in their lives. Most people don’t realise the power of these tests and the can of worms they can open.”

Nicki’s story is worth reflecting upon. After the success of TV shows in which celebrities trace their ancestors, scores of companies have jumped on the bandwagon – offering DNA testing, family trees and the possibility of discovering new relatives.

The festive season has become a bumper period for such services, cashing in on the notion of family bonding and offering testing kits as Christmas presents.

This year Ancestry, which claims to have the world’s largest consumer DNA database, knocked 25 percent off the cost of its one-off tests and is also offering six-month membership at a 40 per cent reduction. This means you stay on their database, putting you in touch with others building their family tree and giving access to census records, wills and historic ship’s logs.

In its Christmas sales pitch, Ancestry said: “There’s no limit to what you might discover – together. Ancestry DNA can help deliver the richest family stories – and solve the toughest family mysteries.”

Another site, MyHeritage, slashed the price of kits by 38 percent before Christmas and rival 23andMe was offering free gift wrapping.

But there is growing concern about the ethics of DNA testing kits in a market which is largely unregulated.

Genealogist Debbie Kennett has been at the forefront of the debate, giving advice to a

Parliamentary committee and The Royal Society of Medicine. She is particularly concerned about the effect on those who discover through using test kits that their fathers were actually sperm donors. “Children can find it hard to come to terms with the fact that they were donor conceived,” she says. “The genie is out of the bottle, donor anonymity has ended. “For people who did not know they were donor conceived, their identity can be completely shattered. They feel like they had been lied to all their life. Quite often the results can lead to the break-up of relationships.”

It is important to differentiate between the types of tests. An ancestry test will mostly provide information to help with family tree research and tracing living relatives. A comprehensive DNA test, on the other hand, will provide insights into, among other things, predispositions to cancer and other diseases – so-called “actionable insights” because they allow the recipient the potential to reduce health risks via lifestyle changes. James Hazel, a research fellow at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in the US, has conducted research into test privacy policies.

He told technology news website, Recode, that some of the biggest genetics testing companies such as 23andMe and Ancestry, have signed up to best practice policies, which includes consumer and industry advocacy groups. These include agreements to be transparent about data collection, to take strong security measures, and to use legal processes when working with police and courts. While this is wellintentioned, it is not legally binding. And while the larger companies will be mindful of public opinion, consumer reviews and media scrutiny, smaller companies tend to be left to do what they want, under the radar. “Just as the industry is diverse in terms of tests offered, the information and the quality of the privacy policies are all over the map,” says Hazel.

The implications of DNA testing have thrown up an ethical dilemma which is being wrestled with by Parliament and medical experts, who are concerned about the psychological fallout from unexpected results.

BUT Debbie Kennett believes the regulations as they stand are fit for purpose. “I think everyone has the right to have their own genetic data,” she says. “If there was a lot of harm caused we would have seen it by now, but we haven’t.

“There have been bad companies but they fall by the wayside. The good companies, Ancestry and 23andMe do have staff who are specially trained in how to deal with people who get unexpected results.

“Quite often people don’t believe the results.They are in a state of denial.The staff patiently explain the science and convince them the test is not a scam, that the result is accurate.”

A spokesperson for 23andMe, which has 10 million subscribers, said: “We ensure we have various measures in place to help prepare and support customers who make unexpected discoveries.

“Firstly, we prepare customers with all of the information they need upfront and inform them that taking the test can result in