Would you really want to know

Oh and would you trust the company not to sell your DNA results and would it matter if they did.

Would you trust the quality of the science?

Well yes it would depend on the integrity of the test and how that information is stored but Yes I'm keen to know all I can so that I can do my best to keep healthy.

I would certainly like to know my ancestry, but not my medical outlook. I trust the science 100% (DNA technology is now rock solid and would not be accepted in court if it were not).
Regarding what happens to the results. I would not want the results sold without my prior permission. However I would be very happy for the results to be used anonymously for further research.
DNA science, as does GM, holds no concerns for me.

Whilst I agree pompa that DNA science is "rock solid", I think I would want to know more about the company offering these sort of tests, remember the various companies that were selling cryonics (sp?) some years ago. If the company was a reputable one with a proven track record then I would be interested in the test, especially the ancestry side but I would also be interested in the health side. If it showed I was susceptible to a certain illness then I could take steps to try to avoid it.

I do not think I want to know. There are things in my family's genetic history that I would rather just deal with when I get to it - if I do - and that could be passed on to my children and GC and GGC. I cannot bear to even think about that, so prefer to remain in ignorance. The things include retinitis pigmentosa, hereditary lewy body dementia, and CF - enough, enough!

I also would like to know but it will make some people younger than me, to be ineligible for eg a mortgage if, as sunseeker said, that person was susceptible to some sort of illness. I think that the insurance companies could have a field day.

I already know enough of our medical history through 3 generations and what is more than likely to befall future generations until medical science hopefully discovers a way to eradicate these illnesses. Anything else which may crop up, I will deal with as and when but for the moment, ignorance is bliss.

I saw an advert for this DNA test and wondered about the authenticity of the test, thought it was just another commercial moneymaker and wouldn't be willing to pay around £125 I think it was, to find out it may well be a con.

Google has a massive investment in the company discussed on the news this morning (23 and me) that is offering these tests.

Meant to add, I don't really care/mind what they get up to. Not so sure I want to know "broad brush" information about what I may or may not succumb to.

Also, there are enough of the "worried well" out there already without adding to the numbers. After my mother died of CUP (cancer of unknown primary) I went through a phase of quite severe health anxiety, always at the doctors imagining I had cancer (I wasn't living in the UK then) until one doctor said to me "Next you'll be asking me to skin you as a preventative measure". I got over it after that and live as healthily as possible and go for all the screens offered.

Life is random and a lot of it is down to luck and circumstance. And having money.

"Our genes, and our telomeres, are a predisposition, but they are not necessarily our fate"
Dean Ornish

I think that's a comforting thought for anyone who is worried about hereditary conditions.
If you know as much as possible about your DNA, you can take steps to reduce your risk and avoid your genes becoming your fate.

NO, I would not want to know.
You could spend most of your life "worrying" or "wondering" about getting something, and nothing ever happening.
No thanks.

I also wonder about some headlines. Eat more x, and dont eat y, and you reduce your chance of getting something, by 20%.
But I think if you do that, youmay increase your chance of getting z by 20%.
[I noticed this in 1 week a while ago, which said eat more eggs or whatever and it will help something. But the next week it said if you eat too many eggs or whatever it was, you increase your chance of getting something else!]

In essence, I agree with Grannyknot.

I couldnt care less about my ancestry.

Am pretty certain I don't want to know! Living healthily and taking advantage of any screening to reduce risk and get early warning of any potential problems would be my preference. Like Mishap and Agus an element of ignorance being bliss is involved ( along with crossed fingers!)

Think about the implications for getting insurance. Not just for you, but your kids.

Very true durhamjen

I agree durhamjen, remember the uproar when HIV and AIDS hit the headlines with people being refused life insurance, mortgages etc

No.

Wouldn't lifestyle come into it anyway? My mother has drunk like a fish for over 40 years now and smoked her head off so that is her fate, not mine. She has smoked for over 60 years. I have just given up after smoking for 12 years and will no way go back to the dreaded weed. I intend to be healthier in my later years that what she has been. At least I am trying to be. But no, I would not want to know. I have known too much of my health worries as it is, I would be a quivering wreck and I intend to have some fun in the next few years when my son leaves for uni!!

Definitely not I have enough to contend with without adding to it and causing more stress and making me feel worse!

NO! Not another dollop of stress which might never happen anyway.

But most people already do know what conditions they are predisposed to develop, simply by looking at what their close relatives died of. I can't see that this test would make much difference.
For those who for one reason or another don't know their family history, a DNA test would help them to reduce the risk of developing diseases that they might otherwise be prone to.

but you must know from doing all those dreaded medical insurance reports, for life insurance or mortgages, etc- just how much that sword over peoples' heads affect their lives. Due to OH's kidney damage due to a staph infection when doing his finals- we had huge difficulties getting either of the above, with said condition being excluded, and at hugely increased cost. In lived his life very carefully and healthily, and is now nearly 3 scores and 10- whereas others in the family have not fared so well, due to life style. So unfair.

My parents lived to 96 and 94- despite my mother smoking like a chimney from the age of 16- my dad's dad died of an accident, and his mum lived to a very old age. My mum's dad died in his 50s of a heart attack- due to his love of good food and drink, and a jet set lifestyle- and her mum lived to nearly 90. I do not know of anyone in the family who had diabetes or hypothyroid.

How would you stop insurance companies from refusing life insurance or mortgages to anyone with 'poor' genes?

As I said before granjura, your genes are not necessarily your fate. Lifestyle is much more important IMHO.
The only way to force insurance companies to insure high risk people is to have the same (higher) premiums for everyone.
That works in principle for the NHS but I'm not sure it's applicable to life insurance or travel insurance.
What is the significance of being hypothyroid by the way?

My husband had cerebellar ataxia. Sometimes it's genetic, sometimes it isn't. It was quite worrying for us until it was discovered that his was not genetic. Not knowing what certain ancestors died of, it was impossible to say whether his grandparents, aunts and uncles had died of it, or even had it.