DNA tests that arrive in the mail, including Ancestry DNA and 23&me, are exposing the uncomfortable extent of incest in the US.
The tests, which run for about $100, can’t say explicitly whether someone is the product of incest, but the results can be taken to a third party genetic testing firm which can.
One person who found out the disturbing truth about her family history was 39-year-old Victoria Hill, who, at a high school reunion, got chatting about family trees with an ex-boyfriend with whom she was once intimate.
His family makeup was similar to hers and upon talking to her, took the same test. A text sent to her confirmed what they had feared, saying simply: ‘You’re my sister.’ Ms Hill says she is still traumatized to this day.
Meanwhile, Virginia native Steve Edsel, found out via AncestryDNA that his parents were first-degree relatives, either siblings or father-daughter.
He radiated anger at the thought of the origins of his conception, likely the result of sexual assault of his mother carried out by his grandfather.
The prevalence of incest in the US is far more common than previously thought, with research including common genealogy tests putting the rate at one in 7,000.
Dr Jim Wilson, from the University of Edinburgh who conducted that research, said: ‘That’s way, way more than I think many people would ever imagine.’
It’s a far cry from one 1975 estimate in a psychiatric textbook, putting the rate at about one in a million.
DNA tests that arrive in the mail, including Ancestry and 23&me, can be helpful tools in determining whether someone has genetic predispositions for certain conditions.
Still, they occasionally learn the disturbing truth about their parentage.
Babies born of incest are at increased risk of suffering birth defects, developmental delays, and genetic disorders such as blindness, hearing loss, neonatal diabetes, and limb malformations.
The risks of two siblings or a parent and child having a baby are manifold. When two closely related people have sex, and the female becomes pregnant, there is an increased risk of recessive gene disorders.
This is because children receive one copy of genes from each parent, with the harmful genetic mutations known as recessive genes being overridden by dominant genes.
When related individuals get pregnant, they decrease genetic variations, and the recessive gene they have may combine to become dominant in their child, causing many types of congenital disabilities.
PERCEPTION RESET 