Your DNA portrait is revealing more and more…
DNA from a stone age Greenlander has revealed his startling physical characteristics. How cool will this will be in criminal forensics, but then how will this influence evidence in court and what does it mean for privacy?
A piece of DNA at a crime scene (or some other more innocent location) reveals the DNA’s owner to be male with brown straight hair and the potential for balding, brown eyes, short and solid build and of Caucasian descent. This narrows the suspect list and allows the police to hone in and arrest someone in rapid time.
DNA mugshot
Although DNA fingerprinting is yet to be this precise when painting the mugshot, it is close. An interesting article in the latest Scientific American reveals that scientists presented a similar portrait of a stone age Greenlander by examining DNA from a few tufts of his remaining hair. Chemical analysis of the hair also revealed that his diet was likely mostly seafood.
My genes made me do it
Even though the more we seem to dig into the mechanisms of DNA the more complex it becomes, what we are learning and converting into practical applications is happening fast. It is very cool that we might be able to reveal all sorts of features – shape of nose, eyes, height, weight, race/ethnicity to build a physical profile of people, but what about when we start being able to determine propensity for depression and other forms of psychoses, drug addiction, violence…and so on. Could this be used for or against a person in a court of law? Will it be a case of, “It wasn’t my fault your honour, it was my genes”. Or, “As you can see honour, his genes suggest he will be a continual danger to society. Throw away the key.” Will such knowledge prejudice a jury? What if they are innocent and such potentially private aspects of our lives become public knowledge? I can sense the proverbial can-o-worms being pried open.
Our ability to determine this stuff from DNA will come eventually and there will be a lot of potentially helpful technologies come from this knowledge, especially in the form of medical and health treatments. But there are ethical issues as well. The question is how are we going to deal with it? What regulations or control will need to be put in place, if any? But we have been dealing with the introduction of new technologies forever and we eventually adapt it seems. But it is probably better to sort this out before rather than later.