The Rise and Fall of BritainsDNA: A Tale of Misleading Claims, Media Manipulation and Threats to Academic Freedom

Genealogy

Balding, DavidJ.¹  Timpson, Adrian³  Kennett, DebbieA⁴  Thomas, MarkG.⁵ 

[1] Statistics, University of Melbourne, Victoria 3010, Australia;Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.;Melbourne Integrative Genomics, School of BioSciences and School of Mathematics &Research Department of Genetics, Evolution and Environment, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK;UCL Genetics Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK

关键词: BBC;    BritainsDNA: genetic genealogy;    pseudoscience;    genetic ancestry testing;    academic freedom;    science journalism;    media studies;   

DOI  :  10.3390/genealogy2040047

学科分类：分子生物学，细胞生物学和基因

来源: mdpi

【 摘 要 】

Direct-to-consumer genetic ancestry testing is a new and growing industry that has gained widespread media coverage and public interest. Its scientific base is in the fields of population and evolutionary genetics and it has benefitted considerably from recent advances in rapid and cost-effective DNA typing technologies. There is a considerable body of scientific literature on the use of genetic data to make inferences about human population history, although publications on inferring the ancestry of specific individuals are rarer. Population geneticists have questioned the scientific validity of some population history inference approaches, particularly those of a more interpretative nature. These controversies have spilled over into commercial genetic ancestry testing, with some companies making sensational claims about their products. One such company—BritainsDNA—made a number of dubious claims both directly to its customers and in the media. Here we outline our scientific concerns, document the exchanges between us, BritainsDNA and the BBC, and discuss the issues raised about media promotion of commercial enterprises, academic freedom of expression, science and pseudoscience and the genetic ancestry testing industry. We provide a detailed account of this case as a resource for historians and sociologists of science, and to shape public understanding, media reporting and scientific scrutiny of the commercial use of population and evolutionary genetics.

【 授权许可】

CC BY