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Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective

Over 30 million people worldwide have taken a commercial at-home DNA test, because they were interested in their genetic ancestry, disease predisposition or inherited traits. Yet, these consumer DNA data are also increasingly used for a very different purpose: to identify suspects in criminal invest...

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Autores principales: de Groot, Nina F, van Beers, Britta C, Meynen, Gerben
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BMJ Publishing Group 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8639940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34509983
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107568
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author de Groot, Nina F
van Beers, Britta C
Meynen, Gerben
author_facet de Groot, Nina F
van Beers, Britta C
Meynen, Gerben
author_sort de Groot, Nina F
collection PubMed
description Over 30 million people worldwide have taken a commercial at-home DNA test, because they were interested in their genetic ancestry, disease predisposition or inherited traits. Yet, these consumer DNA data are also increasingly used for a very different purpose: to identify suspects in criminal investigations. By matching a suspect’s DNA with DNA from a suspect’s distant relatives who have taken a commercial at-home DNA test, law enforcement can zero in on a perpetrator. Such forensic use of consumer DNA data has been performed in over 200 criminal investigations. However, this practice of so-called investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) raises ethical concerns. In this paper, we aim to broaden the bioethical analysis on IGG by showing the limitations of an individual-based model. We discuss two concerns central in the debate: privacy and informed consent. However, we argue that IGG raises pressing ethical concerns that extend beyond these individual-focused issues. The very nature of the genetic information entails that relatives may also be affected by the individual customer’s choices. In this respect, we explore to what extent the ethical approach in the biomedical genetic context on consent and consequences for relatives can be helpful for the debate on IGG. We argue that an individual-based model has significant limitations in an IGG context. The ethical debate is further complicated by the international, transgenerational and commercial nature of IGG. We conclude that IGG should not only be approached as an individual but also—and perhaps primarily—as a collective issue.
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spelling pubmed-86399402021-12-15 Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective de Groot, Nina F van Beers, Britta C Meynen, Gerben J Med Ethics Feature Article Over 30 million people worldwide have taken a commercial at-home DNA test, because they were interested in their genetic ancestry, disease predisposition or inherited traits. Yet, these consumer DNA data are also increasingly used for a very different purpose: to identify suspects in criminal investigations. By matching a suspect’s DNA with DNA from a suspect’s distant relatives who have taken a commercial at-home DNA test, law enforcement can zero in on a perpetrator. Such forensic use of consumer DNA data has been performed in over 200 criminal investigations. However, this practice of so-called investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) raises ethical concerns. In this paper, we aim to broaden the bioethical analysis on IGG by showing the limitations of an individual-based model. We discuss two concerns central in the debate: privacy and informed consent. However, we argue that IGG raises pressing ethical concerns that extend beyond these individual-focused issues. The very nature of the genetic information entails that relatives may also be affected by the individual customer’s choices. In this respect, we explore to what extent the ethical approach in the biomedical genetic context on consent and consequences for relatives can be helpful for the debate on IGG. We argue that an individual-based model has significant limitations in an IGG context. The ethical debate is further complicated by the international, transgenerational and commercial nature of IGG. We conclude that IGG should not only be approached as an individual but also—and perhaps primarily—as a collective issue. BMJ Publishing Group 2021-12 2021-09-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8639940/ /pubmed/34509983 http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107568 Text en © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/) .
spellingShingle Feature Article
de Groot, Nina F
van Beers, Britta C
Meynen, Gerben
Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective
title Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective
title_full Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective
title_fullStr Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective
title_full_unstemmed Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective
title_short Commercial DNA tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective
title_sort commercial dna tests and police investigations: a broad bioethical perspective
topic Feature Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8639940/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34509983
http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107568
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