You may need to help family and friends distinguish between the type
of DNA tests being done for our Carroll surname project and those they
may read about in the news related to health. In an item in
CBSNews.com yesterday entitled "More Regulation Urged for Genetic
Testing", the statement is made, "The report also said there is not
sufficient information on the clinical usefulness of genetic testing
and called on HHS to fund an assessment of these tests. That is
particularly important because insurance companies are increasingly
requiring evidence of clinical utility before they will pay for the
tests, the report said." See:
http://www.cbsnews.com:80/stories/2007/11/06/tech/main3459649.shtml
Clearly this is not about the Y-DNA surname test for genealogy, but
our families don't know that! Both tests are genetic tests. Just
mentioning "insurance" can frighten folks. They may read something
that says genetic testing needs more regulation and think what we are
doing should be against the law. Just be sure to tell them that the
company doing the Carroll surname project has nothing to do with
health, and they do nothing except the tests for genealogy.
But then, maybe your relatives aren't like some of mine... :-)
Lura