MyHeritage Launches Health-Related Genetic Test, Ignites Debate

Its screen for selected variants of some disease-linked genes gives customers an incomplete picture of their risk—do they know?

Written byCatherine Offord

| 12 min read

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ABOVE: The new MyHeritage Health+Ancestry test uses a DNA microarray to detect single-nucleotide polymorphisms.
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When MyHeritage’s chief scientific officer Yaniv Erlich announced the launch of the company’s new Health+Ancestry test on Twitter earlier this summer, the feedback wasn’t entirely positive.

The array-based screen offering insights into a customer’s genealogical and health background from a cheek swab is a rival to 23andMe’s service of the same name. It promises risk reports for genetic variants associated with conditions including breast cancer and heart disease, and, unlike 23andMe, provides conversations with a genetic counselor, should the test turn up anything concerning—all for the price of $199 plus shipping.

But, as some Twitter users were quick to point out, the company’s 5,000-word blog post on the product was thin on medical specifics. ‏‏“Your blog brags that it tests for, ‘hereditary BRCA cancers (for which we support more variants than our major competitor),’” ...

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Meet the Author

Catherine Offord
After undergraduate research with spiders at the University of Oxford and graduate research with ants at Princeton University, Catherine left arthropods and academia to become a science journalist. She has worked in various guises at The Scientist since 2016. As Senior Editor, she wrote articles for the online and print publications, and edited the magazine’s Notebook, Careers, and Bio Business sections. She reports on subjects ranging from cellular and molecular biology to research misconduct and science policy. Find more of her work at her website.
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