Taken away as an infant and placed for adoption, Jen Stein was afraid that knowing nothing about her Native American past or potential hereditary diseases could put her and her children’s health at risk. So, like millions of people around the world, she bought a home DNA test kit to find out her health profile and ancestry – a growing market dominated by companies 23andMe and Ancestry.
The simple, saliva-based test, which costs about $100, changed her life and led to Stein finally reuniting with her long-lost biological mother. “My girls and I feel like we know more about why we are the way we are, and who we are. It’s made a huge impact,” the 41-year-old said in a phone interview from Washington state.
The number of people who have had their DNA analysed by the consumer-testing companies has taken off since 2016 and now stands at nearly 17 million, according to science website DNAGeeks.com. By 2021, the website estimates, that figure could be more than 100 million.
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