Citing DNA information of testers whose kits and accounts have been deleted

By F.T.C. on Wed, 03/26/2025 - 13:25

Forums

With all the concern about the likely bankruptcy sale of 23andMe, the owners of some of the kits I manage wish to have their DNA samples, raw data and all related information deleted from various testing companies and their accounts closed. I am, of course, obligated to comply with their wishes. They do not object to my retaining copies of their raw data files and the reports and other information I’m able to download or take screen shots of. That being the case, I can continue using their test results in my research on our family. My questions are:
1.    Does the fact that their information will have been deleted from the various testing companies change anything about my source citations to whatever specific bits of it I’ll need to cite in future proof arguments? I envision adding a sentence stating that the relevant kit(s) have been removed and perhaps adding the removal date and that the information is privately held by me. 
2.    Will the removal of the testers’ kits adversely affect the credibility of any proof arguments I may write? 
3.    If I were to write an article about a mutual ancestor whose identification involved DNA testing and the testers approved my submitting it for possible publication in a respected genealogical journal, would the fact that their test information has been removed from the companies diminish or eliminate the chances of the article’s being accepted?
Thanks in advance for any insights you can provide.
F.T.C.
 

Submitted byEEon Wed, 03/26/2025 - 19:27

Hello, F.T.C. One change is warranted. Whatever citation details you give for the problem you're working with and the kits that support the answer, you would add a statement to say that Kit No. _____  has been removed from the site due to [whatever] and is no longer available for comparative study. 

As a corollary, we do this already when we cite online material for which we once captured an appropriate citation and then the material was taken down, no?

There's also the question whether the absence of that kit information, which affects whether your proof argument can be peer-evaluated, would weaken your argument. If so, then you would need to seek an alternative source—and yes, I definitely know what that involves!

Realistically, though, unless you are submitting your proof argument to a peer-reviewed journal that does fact-checking and make its own evaluation of the strength of each DNA-based argument it publishes, the issue of the no-longer-available kit might never arise.

Submitted byF.T.C.on Wed, 03/26/2025 - 23:34

Thank you so much, EE, for your comments. I've downloaded everything possible for each kit multiple times over the years as new matches and features have become available and will do a final round of downloads before deleting the kits in question. I can only hope those downloads will meet the verification standards of any editors who might consider publishing a future article that includes them as evidence.

Best wishes,

F.T.C.