Spit, something our bodies readily produce for free, can be very valuable. It can mean the difference between prison and freedom, and between being related to Wild Bill Hickok versus Buffalo Bill. In an effort to cater to dedicated genealogists, Ancestry.com is introducing a new service that promises to provide detailed information about consumers ancestors as well as connections to other living relatives, for the price of some saliva and $99.

Ancestor Discoveries will provide about 30% of consumers with information about relatives from the past and present, including details about the ancestors’ daily lives, as well as alert them to other people alive who’re related to them, reports USA Today.

“It’s the biggest leap forward for us yet, leveraging nearly a million DNA profiles we already have in our system,” says Ancestry.com CEO Tim Sullivan.

He says the company sees two markets for the service — those who are already into genealogy and then others who just want to know who they are. People simply spit in a tube and send it back to the company for results, which arrive in about 6-8 weeks, the company says.

“Family history is never really done. With every generation you go back, you have that much more context for your own story.”

Its previous DNA kit, which also goes for $99, broke down an individual by ethnicity and provided a network of possible relatives, but this sounds like it’ll be more in-depth.

Eventually, Sullivan thinks health disclosures through DNA testing will be something the company offers, pending Food and Drug Administration approval. There will likely be privacy concerns involved with sharing medical information, however, so that still needs to get worked out.

“The FDA will have a lot to say about how you can communicate health discoveries to users, and of course you’ll also just be able to opt out,” he says, pointing out that there are positives for people who might want to learn about potential issues before they happen.

Ancestry.com uses spit to find your long-lost relatives [USA Today]

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