ASHG "Ancestry Testing Statement"

The statement and press release (via GENEALOGY-DNA-L). I agree almost entirely with Blaine Bettinger's comments. The funniest part of the statement for me:

Knowledge about genetic ancestry – if undesirable and unexpected – can elicit a range of psychological responses including shock, disbelief, denial, anxiety, anger, fear and other well-known reactions to unwanted news. [. . .] The use of AIMs and admixture mapping techniques, in general, has brought about anxiety with regard to its apparent reification of race.

The earlier sentence ostensibly concerns the tender feelings of vulnerable consumers of genetic ancestry tests, but the sentence which begins the next paragraph reveals what seems to have been the primary concern that drove most of the committee members in drafting this trash.

The committee's first two recommendations are unobjectionable:

1. Because the science of ancestry determination has limitations, greater efforts are needed on the part of both industry and academia to make the limitations of ancestry estimation clearer to consumers, the scientific community, and the public at large. In turn, the public has the responsibility to avail themselves of information regarding ancestry testing and strive to better understand the implications and limitations of these assessments.

2. Additional research is required to further understand the extent to which the accuracy of genetic ancestry estimation is influenced by the individuals represented in existing databases, geographical patterns of human diversity, marker selection and statistical methods.

However, the committee negates any value their statement may have had with their subsequent advocacy of "counseling" "guidelines" for ancestry testing, full-employment for cultural Marxists, and government controls on ancestry testing.