What are the genetic privacy issues with technology that can collect human DNA from natural environments such as sand and air?
With the development of science and technology, it is now possible to discover the DNA sequence of a single hair and identify people with the same DNA. The latest research has advanced to the point where we can collect samples from any environment, such as water droplets, sand, or even air, and analyze the DNA contained therein, without even having to search for specific DNA. While this technology has great advantages in aiding criminal investigations and medical research, there are also concerns about serious privacy violations.
We can ID people from DNA that shows up in environmental studies | Ars Technica
Your DNA Can Now Be Pulled From Thin Air. Privacy Experts Are Worried. - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/15/science/environmental-dna-ethics-privacy.html
Liam Whitmore, a zoologist who is also active as a conservationist, was researching green sea turtles when he realized the possibility of human DNA slipping into research samples.
When my colleagues and I immediately checked old water and sand samples collected for wildlife and pathogen monitoring research, we found that human DNA was still present. When Whitmore and his colleagues analyzed the DNA they found, although they were unable to identify the individual, they discovered many genomic regions related to the person's ancestry and resistance to disease.
Whitmore et al. ``It has not been possible to identify individuals from DNA in the natural environment. However, by comparing this sequence with public genetic data, someone can learn more private information about specific individuals.'' You can do it,” he said.
In the United States and the European Union (EU), government-funded research involving identifiable human DNA samples must be approved by an institutional review board. Written informed consent must also be obtained from the participant providing the DNA. But when human DNA is accidentally obtained in the natural environment, as Whitmore encountered, it becomes difficult to obtain consent or approval for research. With that in mind, Whitmore and colleagues outlined some of the potential problems and potential benefits of their findings.
According to Whitmore, there are concerns that once DNA is obtained, it could be used in a variety of harmful ways, including being tracked or monitored without the person's knowledge or consent, or being used commercially. That's what he said. Whitmore also pointed out that this is an important privacy issue because DNA can also reveal resistance to various diseases. On the other hand, if DNA is discovered in the natural environment, it may be possible to identify groups that are related to a certain disease and expand our understanding of that disease and its treatment. There are also other useful uses, such as helping to search for fugitives and kidnapping victims, and discovering undiscovered civilizations in archaeological research, so we need to carefully balance this with an emphasis on privacy. Whitmore says that we need to take the following steps:
Natalie Lam, a legal scholar who works on genetic privacy laws, states in her paper `` The Ethics of Human Nucleotide Sequences in Environmental Samples '' that ``unintentionally leaked genetic information cannot be used for investigative purposes.'' , there is a risk of putting us all under permanent 'genetic surveillance.' Currently, law enforcement agencies are less willing to use genetic information collected for other purposes for different investigative purposes. However, at least a lower U.S. court has held that there is no constitutional right to privacy regarding the DNA that individuals unintentionally and inevitably shed as they travel around the world. '', he said regarding privacy issues.
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