Genetic testing has been used
since the early 1980s, but its commercial use blew up in 2017. In 2017,
more people had their DNA analyzed than in all previous years combined.
Ancestry.com began using DNA testing in 2002, and 23&Me followed and
was founded in 2006. At first people mainly used DNA testing to find
out where their families were from and to find out more about their
ancestral history. Soon, the interest became more centralized and now,
many people want to know what their own genetic predispositions are.
People want to know what kind of illnesses they might contract or
already have. People want to know about themselves and they think that
lab testing will fulfill that gap of knowledge. DNA testing works by
gathering your DNA, for example, by your saliva, and then in a lab, the
DNA is processed on a genotyping chip that is able to read the variants
of your DNA which show how you are different from other people.
I have thought about testing my own DNA, but my family history is pretty clear and straight forward, and if I were to find out that what I know is wrong, it still would not affect me that much. I think it would be interesting to find out if I had any predispositions to certain illnesses, but again, I don't think it is necessary, as I think that I should live a healthy lifestyle even if my chances for certain illnesses are slim. I don't feel the need to know everything about myself, like when or how I might die. I used to also be personally against giving a company access to my DNA because I would have to pay for it. If my DNA can help the future of medicine and is therefore valuable, why should I pay for another party to have access to it. I think that the value of knowing what my DNA says about me is less than the value of the future of personalized medicine. It's not a fair trade. I think a more reasonable exchange would be for people to donate their DNA to science and maybe help lots of others in the future and in return, the least the company can do is tell them what their DNA says.