Mike Puru: David Lomas Investigates may drop a few DNA bombshells

A new season of David Lomas Investigates has started - just in time for the colder autumn evenings. Photo / Jason Oxenham

Opinion

OPINION:

A new season of David Lomas Investigates has started back on the box - just in time for the colder autumn evenings.

It's a TV show where people are trying to put together missing pieces of their biological make-up. It's a beautiful show full of heartwarming reunions usually preceded by heartbreaking stories of abandonment or bad timing or even, like last week, sperm donation.

DNA is usually the battery shining a light on some pretty amazing stories, but I have a warning - sometimes those batteries become DNA bombshells.

Millions of people around the world are using home DNA kits to find out about their genetic make-up, their ethnicity and also to help put together those elusive family trees that are missing a branch or two.

I've done it twice now and a few of my family have done the tests as well - but here's where the bombshell exploded and caused anguish and questions that have dimmed the light on what should be a journey of discovery everyone loves.

Without saying too much about the specific details out of respect for my extended family members, it turns out not everything was as it seemed with the fathers and mothers of times gone by.

Don't get me wrong. I love the fact we can assist our pursuit of finding out who we are and where we came from - it helps us understand our identity, which in turn gives us a sense of belonging, which also gives us purpose, and we know how that can change one's life - that's especially evident in Aotearoa.

Mike Puru: "Beautiful reunions and discoveries can take a nasty turn and - all of a sudden - your family is ripped apart." Photo / Dean Purcell

Many people who do home DNA tests are just trying to find out if there is, for example, some Scottish in their bloodline to help explain their mysterious love of haggis and bagpipes, or if there is a percentage of Irish blood in the family so they can celebrate St Patrick's Day with a heartfelt day off in New Zealand drinking Guinness.

You can take it a step further and start linking up with others in the database who have done the test as well and, thanks to the technology of the database algorithm, it will ask you if you want to match with others who have the same traces of DNA. All of a sudden Rachel down the road who looked after your kids when you were young turns out to be a long-lost cousin, or your work colleague turns out to be your sister's child from a sordid affair that has been a family secret for years.

Beautiful reunions and discoveries can take a nasty turn and - all of a sudden - your family is ripped apart.

DNA testing has led to some very old murders being solved, it has helped us understand sickness and kept farming and horticulture ahead of the game. It's a beautiful tool, but surely we have to be careful. DNA sites are very diligent, ethical and protective and you ultimately have the power to decide how far you dive into the gene pool, but I'm worried that in the next decade things will ramp up to the point it's out of control.

Contact tracing is a fairly new term we have got used to, but imagine if the whole world had a DNA contact tracer of sorts - where everyone was in one database. Imagine if that tool was used to stop crime and sickness, to help identify potential donors and trends, and also, what the future will hold for you. Powerful but also scary - and we are getting closer.

When I was younger I used to think we would all have barcodes on our wrists where we could pay for things and fly around the world without a passport. It was the stuff of the future but it's pretty much here already, with watches paying for goods and face scans being used at airports for border control, so potentially DNA tracing on a larger scale could just creep up on us.

Go for it if you want to find out about your heritage - take the test - it's actually quite good fun and interesting, but you have to be prepared for the fact that your sense of identity can be altered with devastating effects. DNA testing may unlock more than your love of Guinness - and that's a whole new journey that can change your life ... you have been warned.