French in search of their origins

Pierre Florsch was 12 years old when he learned that he had been adopted. His parents had never wished to give him any information on his birth. For more than forty years, the Lorraine will investigate its origins. He managed to learn more from the maternal side, but finds no sign from his father.

In June 2021, on a forum for children’s discussion born under X, he intended to talk about DNA tests. “A cheek smear that takes only two minutes,” explains one of the flagship sites, myheritage. The fifties hesitate before embarking on the adventure, but still commands the online kit with a specialized laboratory, collects its saliva by means of the supplied swab and sends it.

A month later, the results arrive: Pierre shares 25 % of his DNA with another individual, registered on the same site. This high rate means correspondence with a loved one, whether grandparent, uncle, nephew or half-brother. Bingo is his uncle. The latter makes him meet his biological father in Moselle. “After the shock of the news, I was received with open arms,” ​​he says. Now I’m going to see him every two weeks! »»

Get around the prohibition

Each year, according to the DNA Pass association, between 100,000 and 200,000 French people use these so -called “recreational” genetic tests, even though the practice is prohibited in France. The Civil Code only authorizes them when ordered by a judge or a doctor, in the case of a paternity test or a medical genetic test to avoid privacy damage, family conflicts and the risks of discrimination based on health or origins. A framework specified by the 2011 bioethics law.

The National Commission for Data Protection (CNIL) continues to alert their expansion in France. A pressure that seems to have borne fruit, since, since 2023, the giants of the sector have arrested their deliveries to our country. But not enough to dissuade volunteers: “You can easily order the kits on Ebay or Amazon”, explains one of them, who wishes to remain anonymous. Or use re -exposition services by ordering, via friends or relatives, from European countries authorizing these tests.

Despite the fine controls and risks (up to € 3,750), these kits continue to attract new customers. The sites marketed them exploited the flight of the genealogy during the COVID-19 where, locked up, many French people realized that going in search of their origins was an activity feasible from a distance.

With a lot of advertisements, the platforms have highlighted the simplicity of using these tests for personal use. “Few people want or time to immerse themselves in reading civil status acts,” notes the genealogist Nathalie Jovanovic-Floricourt. And, at 100 euros maximum, the investment is less compared to a genealogical study.

For some, this process would constitute the only means of tracing their family tree. CNAOP (National Council for Access to Personal origins), ASE (Children’s Social Aid), town hall of the city of birth … There are indeed many to point the finger at the slowness and rigidity of the French administration when it comes to finding its biological parents. This makes the so many potential candidates for these “wild” but fast genetic tests.

Martine Barbier was born under X on December 14, 1955. At the time, the young woman could only appeal at ASE. “I learned that I was well in Ardennes and that my mother was a minor during her delivery,” she recalls. Afterwards, nothing … I felt stripped of my story. The law of January 22, 2002 created the CNAOP, whose object is to help in their research the people born or abandoned under the secret. “I made a request in January 2003, but I was never answered,” she explains. Without going through a DNA test, almost septuagenarian could never have discovered the identity of his biological mother.

Want to return to basics

In view of the figures, however, practice does not only attract “born under X”. And for good reason: the time is back to the roots, in all their aspects. The failures of globalization have revived interest in the loved one – the country, the terroir. “The climate of instability (prices rise, climate change, wars) fuels a feeling of decline, which contributes to this search for identification, according to the sociologist Dominique Desjeux. Population movements and brewing in the territory, associated with changes in socio -professional categories due to the social elevator, have caused destabilization and loss of identity. “Even the history of grandparents is sometimes unknown,” said Nathalie Jovanovic-Floricourt.

Sandrine* had always heard of a possible Jewish ancestry of her family, Corsica and Italian for decades “I was making my film,” she says. Seven years ago, she bought a DNA test on Ancestrydna, an American point in the market on the market (25 million members worldwide), behind Myheritage (96 million).

After a few weeks, she obtained her answer: hidden in the midst of the Mediterranean origins, a tiny percentage linked to the Jewish community appears. “I found it fun to have confirmation of what was said in the family, comment. It even interested my daughter, who continues the research. »»

Genealogist Nathalie Jovanovic-Floricourt has had a similar experience on her side. Thanks to her research started at 18, she was able to go up her family tree to the Antilles, but it was a genetic test which allowed her to discover zulla origins. “The descendants of slaves were not listed, because there was a desire to erase these origins,” she explains.

Data use risk

Is the reliability of these kits really there? The more customers are providing their DNA, the more the company can expand its database. “However, some sites have very few French customers, notes Marie-Odile Mergnac, historian and genealogist. The tests will therefore go and seek on the side of the populations closest to us by their chromosomes, in this case the Anglo-Saxons, which remains distant. »»

Her sister Nathalie Jovanovic-Floricourt notes, however, a more successful pedagogy and results refined since their appearance on the market, in the early 2000s. “DNA traces can go up to three hundred years before us”, which explains the pell-mell of origins, according to her. The major risk lies in the use of personal data that customers record their willingness on the sites.

On March 6, 2024, the CNIL published a press release to raise awareness of the collection of “identity data and contact details”. Two years earlier, hackers had stolen information from 6 million customers on the 23andme site, now closed and whose data of 15 million members could be sold. “It is worse than exposing his medical file in the public square,” is alarmed by Hélène Guimiot, head of the CNIL Health Service.

If DNA informs about the origins, it can also highlight other valuable information for the person but also for his loved ones, such as hereditary pathologies. “This information can create unnecessary anxiety. Beware of imaginary patients! “Warns the geneticist at Nantes University, Christian Dina.

The collective of “born under X and elsewhere”, which brings together 1,700 people, is therefore campaigning to regulate and support the use of these tests. Only problem: no worldwide instance has this type of use. Projects exist, like the France Medicine Genomic 2025 plan, intended to map DNA. But they remain confined to the scientific sphere.

*The first name has been changed.