DNA ancestry tests branded 'meaningless'

[Still Waters]

Customers are being charged up to £300 to learn whether they have links to famous people or societies despite the fact many of the tests are not backed up by scientific evidence, experts said.

The amount of DNA any individual inherits from relatives just a few steps up their family tree is negligible compared with the vast amount we all share from common ancestors.

It means any ancestral "history" identified by a simple genetic test is just one of dozens of possible interpretations, and to try to trace our lineage directly through our genes is "absurd", they claimed.

http://www.telegraph...eaningless.html

[+OverSword]

True. Have you ever seen those places that find your families coat of arms? If you go by those places everyone is from a family noble enough to have warranted one.

[No Censorship]

Yet, the same page links to a story about how millions of British people descend from ancient Romans. I guess that article should be considered meaningless now. The DNA ancestry tests are meaningful if they're limited to general connections more than specific links. They're good for determining your forebears' ethnicities and/or homelands.