To Whom Else Does Your DNA Belong?

By: Kareem Mohni

Posted: 4/3/07

There is a wealth of personal and private information about you stored in your DNA. By analyzing your DNA, it is possible to determine if you are at risk for any number of diseases, carry a genetic disease or even determine paternity. But who owns your DNA and who has the right to have it sequenced and analyzed? A feature article in The New York Times by Amy Harmon recently pointed out an alarming trend of individuals, so zealous and determined to complete a family tree, that hey have resorted to stealing DNA from individuals who will not give it willingly. I am not only alarmed by this outright invasion of privacy, but also deeply troubled by these individuals' desire to fill in the blanks of their biological family.

There is a growing market for DNA genealogy kits that easily allow you to determine if you and another individual are related. The kits look at both sets of DNA and compare a number of genetic markers to determine if both individuals share a recent common ancestor. The rapid advances in DNA technology have made these kits not only very accurate, but cheap too. Tests can be run for as little as $99, and with people desperate to complete a family tree, there is almost no financial burden getting in their way - only a moral one.

Reading the story, I am reminded of the movie "Gattaca," in which the main character's love interest steals a piece of his hair and has it sequenced to find out the truth about him. While this may seem like science fiction, it is quickly becoming reality. Harmon describes a woman so eager to fulfill her family tree that she is willing to steal DNA. She highlights the story of Derrell Teat, a 63-year-old woman, who approached a prospective relative about acquiring a sample of his DNA. He refused, but she would not take no for an answer. Instead, she chose to wait for him outside a McDonald's and steal his coffee cup from the trash can in order to get a DNA sample from him. This is blatant genetic theft. The man did not want his DNA taken and Teat went out of her way to go against his wishes. Unfortunately, there is no legal recourse for this man to take, as there are no current laws governing the acquisition of genetic material for DNA testing.

Another odd trend is the degree of relations the relatives in question had. The man Teat was tracking down was not even closely related to her. She believed him to be the last male descendent of her great-great-great grandfather's bother. This is absolutely ridiculous. There is no inherent worth of knowing if she is related to this man or not, certainly not one worth steeling his DNA. Furthermore, in searching out relatives, questions also come up that should not be answered, because the truth may affect relationships in ways that it should not. Harmon also highlights Bob Grieve, a 55-year-old man who has a DNA kit in his fridge to test a sample from his father when he dies. Grieve has done this genetic test on himself and his close relatives and has determined that he shares no genetic markers with any of his relatives, including his first cousin, the son of his father's brother. This could be explained by the genealogical term indicating a "nonpaternal event" in which either Grieve's father is not his father, or his grandfather was not his father's father. When telling his father about this information and asking him to essentially take a paternity test, the father refused. The senior Grieve is right not to consent to this paternity test. Paternity may unfairly change their relationship in a way that it should not. Grieve senior is the man's father for all intents and purposes. Knowing if he is the biological father will have no effect on all of the things Grieve senior has done for his son in his 55 years. They are a family - biological or not. The only thing biology can do is harm Grieve's view of his father or his grandfather and that is not good for anyone.

Every anecdote in Harmon's feature is more outrageous than the next. Many of these stories, like Grieve's, focus on paternity, including a woman ready to exhume her dead father's body because she does not believe his paternity. Stories like these only serve to undermine our family values. A family is the collection of individuals that care about you and make your life better. Families are not defined by biology, and this forced view of biological importance is misplaced. Biology does not affect how two individuals relationship has progressed and should not interfere with it after. Biology must not take precedence over what is really important in life - personal relationships that define our real families.

Weekly Columnist Kareem Mohni is an 8th-semester molecular and cell biology major. His column appears on Tuesdays.