As home DNA tests become more common, people are grappling with surprises about their parents
Andrea Ramirez got a DNA test for fun and learned her father, the man who raised her, was not her biological parent
By Christina Farr
Until recently, Andrea Ramirez, 43, thought she was part Mexican.
But the results from an at-home genetic test from 23andMe revealed that she is a mix of Northern European, North African and a little Native American.
And not at all hispanic.
Ramirez, who hails from the Bay Area and works in marketing, bought the US$199 genetic test in 2013 for a lark after her brother Danny’s own test came back with some curious results. She and Danny are both fair-skinned and freckled, and don’t closely resemble their half-siblings from their father’s first marriage, but they never questioned their heritage.
As expected, Danny showed up on a list of Andrea’s DNA relatives on 23andMe. But his DNA was only about a 25 per cent match with hers, meaning that he wasn’t a full sibling as she had expected.
