The Moose Jaw Branch of the Saskatchewan Genealogical Society meet once a month at the Public Library, and will be holding a special presentation Tuesday night on DNA.

They have welcomed guest speaker – local high school teacher Logan Petlak – to speak on 'Everything you always wanted to Know about DNA, but were afraid to ask'.

Petlak explains what you can expect if you come to the presentation; "I'll talk about a little bit about DNA, genetics, genetic expression, how inheritance passes from one generation to the next, and a little bit about the ethical issues that are kind of surrounding that in society right now".

Sending your DNA to a company to have your ancestry line examined is becoming fairly popular and can be incredibly interesting. However, Petlak explains the ethical debate that has come from these companies;

"With the growing field of biotechnology right now, with genetic screening and ancestry and DNA testing; is it worth getting your DNA tested when the company owns that raw data. Is that something you're comfortable with? A company owning and potentially distributing it, whether its for research or other purposes down the line".

Despite the debate and 'unknown' surrounding what could happen with that data, Petlak says hes done research on his own family and was pleased with the results;

"When I start analyzing and reflecting on some of the things I'm fortunate to have in my life and considering the genetic implications of that, it kind of makes me question 'What did I get from mom?''What did I get from dad?', as well as other generations past. Its a good connection piece. What you have similar to other people, what you have different to other people, and how that also impacts you."

The presentation will be held at 7:00 at the Moose Jaw Public Library in the Herb Taylor room.