Are DNA kits a good gift? 🧬

Let's hope the recipients haven't committed any crimes. If their DNA is in a crime database, the testing company will rat them out faster than you can say "due process".

Be careful OP. Kind intentions can be misinterpreted. Someone in my extended family recently married and had a baby with a woman of rather indiscreet virtue. Last holiday season I gifted them a paternity test and everyone was mad at ME. Last time I ever put thought into a gift. This year its Amazon cards for everyone.

One very interesting complaint I've heard about 23 and me is that their newest, updated way of measuring ancestry is less accurate then their older one. Grain of salt and all that but I've seen this remarked on repeatedly online. Google boxcar method for more info.

Nothing says fun like testing yourself to see if you're prone to genetic diseases, OP.

They once did an experiment by DNA testing babies in a British hospital. The amount of babies who turned out to belong to different fathers was so shockingly high they shut down the experiment.

As of 10 years ago in the U.S., it was estimated up to 1/3 of poor babies belonged to different fathers than what was on their birth certificates. The number decreases to about 10% of middle/upper class babies.

How old are they? If they're 45 or older, perhaps gift them a Cologuard kit.

Imagine the look on their faces when they remove the bow and wrapping paper and see this...

My opinion: no, not a good gift for reasons stated above. If someone specifically asks for one, then you could buy it.

Reliability: reliable to determine paternity, yes. IMO, not reliable with regard to determining "race" of your ancestors. Seems like they use metadata to do this.

[quote]if they’re male or female

Oh, goddamn. This bullshit never stops.

[quote] if they’re male or female

Trollin', trollin', trollin'

I bought one for my sister-in-law, who I think has really interesting ancestry (Sardinian and Hungarian Gypsy). It cost about $80. But it then required her to make an account and maybe pay for a subscription. Anyway, she just wasn't interested enough to do all that, so she never used it.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

I wouldn’t. People find out secrets that should remain secret.

My father grew up in a small town where everyone knew everyone else. One of his uncles was the black sheep of the family. My father recently matched on the “cousin” level with a guy that was the son of the town’s good time girl. Apparently, the black sheep uncle got her pregnant, but nobody ever knew about it.