BOSTON – Have you ever wondered how accurate these dog breed tests are? The WBZ I-Team has tested them and this isn't the first time they've returned some pretty surprising results was.
Elinor Carlson, a geneticist at the Broad Institute and Massachusetts Chan Medical School, said, “From a consumer standpoint, I'm personally struck by the fact that you don't necessarily know what you're going to get by working with these companies.'' I am concerned about this,” he said. school. “There aren’t many rules in this space.”
Carlson runs a lab called Darwin's Ark and studies DNA science in pets. According to Zion Market Research, this industry is expected to be worth $723 million by 2030.
Last year, the I-Team investigated commercial DNA testing companies and sent samples taken from New Hampshire pet owner Michelle Leininger's human cheek to a company called DNA My Dog. The results were: She was part Bulldog. Leininger joked, “Sometimes people might agree with that, but no, no.”
Jessica Barnett, the company's service director, responded at the time: “The results provided would not be possible in human samples.”
Dog DNA test results from human samples
This prompted the I-Team to take another look. Reporter Christina Hager swabbed her own cheek and sent samples to three different companies.
Olivet reported the sample as “unable to provide the necessary data to perform the cultivar ID analysis.”
The Wisdom Panel sent a message saying the samples “did not provide sufficient DNA to produce reliable results.”
But for the second time, DNA My Dog results linked dog breeds to human samples. The company reported that Hager is 40% Alaskan Malamute, 35% Shar Pei, and 25% Labrador.
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DNA My Dog gives each sample a unique ID number to track it and keep it accurate. We contacted the Toronto-based company again. This time, despite multiple attempts, DNA My Dog did not respond.
The importance of pet genetics
Carlson hopes that public interest in pet genetics remains intact. She said science has significant value when done correctly. “We may be able to understand which dogs are at risk for cancer, so they can be screened more often and diagnosed earlier,” Carlson said. “We may be able to develop a new treatment for that cancer.”
She said pet owners should know that this area of research has a long way to go. That's why she hopes more DNA will be donated to her academic lab, Darwin's Ark.
The larger the database she anonymously publishes, she says, the closer science gets to solving the mysteries beneath that fur.
