But 23andMe is not really a test for anything – not paternity, not ancestry, not disease. Saying our service is a “test” would imply that there is some question you or we are trying to answer. But that’s not the point of 23andMe’s service. You send your DNA to our contracted lab, they genotype it, and we give you the data – as well as access to what the latest scientific research has to say about it. There is a lot you can do with this data and we’re here to help you. But no one should think we’re giving them definitive answers to questions like “When will I die?” or “Who’s my real dad?” And remember, while all users have the opportunity to share their data with others, they can also keep it totally private if they think it might contain information they’re not quite ready to share.

Just a point of clarification. 23andme absolutely *is* a paternity test, and a maternity test. As you well know, 23andme through its ancestry tab will tell you if there is a parent-child relationship (given samples from two individuals).

I handed out 23andme kits to my relatives at Christmas, and a few weeks later my wife found out that her “father” was not really her father. Needless to say, it turned out to be not such a great Christmas gift! But I love it anyway…

As for human DNA that might make it into your mouth: you have to provide two milliliters of spit in your sample – this is a lot! It can take up to ten minutes to work up that much saliva. So any genetic material left in your mouth after smooching would be swamped out by the large amount of saliva and DNA coming from you.

Finally, there is no way to authenticate a sample. We have no way of verifying the name that is given for each kit, there is no way for us or anyone else to know whose spit makes it into a specific tube, and your sample is sent to the lab devoid of any identifying information. Our consent form and legal agreement requires each person submitting a sample (or the person who has valid legal authorization to do so) to verify that they are submitting their own saliva (or the sample of the person for whom they have valid legal authorization to consent). Finally, we want to stress that there is no such thing as a “great DNA profile.” Each person will have unique data (except for the identical twins out there) that they can use to get to know genetics and themselves a little better.

Is there anyway to authenticate any particular sample? Can you falsify the sample to make it look you have a great DNA profile?