GENEALOGY-DNA-L Archives

Archiver > GENEALOGY-DNA > 2006-04 > 1145708554


From: "Michael L. Hébert" <>
Subject: RE: [DNA] Genealogy as we knew it
Date: Sat, 22 Apr 2006 07:22:34 -0500
In-Reply-To: <380-22006462235015649@earthlink.net>


I am trying to deal with this very issue as I'm putting together my surname
dna projects intro pages. I'm trying to pare down the details into
understandable terms and concepts such as saying that only 1 of our 46
chromosomes is looked at, that only little places on the chromosome where
the dna repeats itself various times (STR) or where it blips (SNP) are
examined, that these places are in our "filler" (junk) dna in between our
genes which doesn't have any known purpose (unless put there to help humans
with their genealogy), that these places make up only a tiny minute fraction
of our total dna, that it is not the same testing that is used in codis or
paternity testing, and so forth and so on.

I'm trying to stay away from the word "mutation" since it conjures up
mutants and using instead something like "variations". Also, since these
projects are genealogical in nature and although I am mentioning
haplogroups, I'm not stressing the "deep ancestry" possibilities so as not
to overtly challenge anyone's religious beliefs. I'm stressing that this is
a way of connecting with others with whom we share something ... some common
dna and a common ancestor.

Like you, I would be interested in knowing how others approach the task of
allaying the fears of potential new members. Of course, the equal, if not
bigger, task is dealing with the cost issue and convincing people to shell
out $100-$200+ for the testing.

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: Eric Olson [mailto:]
Sent: Friday, April 21, 2006 10:50 PM
To:
Subject: [DNA] Genealogy as we knew it

<snip>

It's difficult enough to recruit new members for surname studies because
they are already nervous about privacy matters. How can we make it
perfectly clear that the DNA useful to genetic genealogy has nothing to do
with the DNA used for paternity, forensics or medicine? Or can we?

<snip>

This thread: