Monday, June 18, 2007

Ancestry.com says you are not the father!


by blogger jgl

At first glance, this story is of minor interest.

The rapidly growing field of online genealogical searches is expanding to genetic testing, courtesy of a new partnership between the Internet's largest family history Web site, Ancestry.com, and Sorenson Genomics, a privately held DNA research firm...

...Ancestry.com plans to launch the DNA testing product by the end of summer, offering customers the possibility of finding DNA matches in the site's 24,000 genealogical databases.

But then I started thinking about a statistic I heard many ago about paternity. I can't remember what the estimate was, or how reliable it was... but apparently if everyone took a paternity test there would be some very surprised kids and husbands. This could be a very dangerous road.

I wonder how ancestry.com would handle a situation like that.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

This would be very interesting because it might uncover some dirt certain people might be trying to keep under the rug. Being able to find out that you're not the father or someone else is really your dad might put Maury Povich out of work!
TGC

UAB MSFS Program said...

as long as there are nerds that have plastic surgery and want to rub it in their former bully's face... Maury will live on.
-jgl

Anonymous said...

There have been a number of studies on paternity including some that suggesting that paternal discrepancy could be as high as ten percent. A more recent overview puts it closer to one in 25 though. Check it out at:

http://men.webmd.com/news/20050810/paternity-study-shakes-up-family-tree

Anonymous said...

I think DNA is getting a bad wrap by all the publicity with paternity tests. The new trend in entertainment seems to be how ignorant a person can act when finding out, undoubtablly already knowing the truth, that they are the father of a child. It is a shame because DNA is of such importance. It can not only link people together as families but also give advanced warnings for genetic issues and potential diseases. I think it would be a good thing if it could be used in positive light to reveal extended families and help unite people. However, it seems DNA is linked to tearing people apart in most cases. This would be helpful for those looking for missing children or adopted children. BL

Anonymous said...

I think this would definitely cause a lot of confusion in peoples lives and create a lot of violence as well. however, there are tons of kids i see everyday that do not know who theirbiological mom or dad is and wh en they need an organ or blood or anything for that matter, who suffers? the kid.. they come first. this could also give unknowing parents a chance in their child's life.. this is a tough subject definitely. T. Sloan