Novel Nonmedical Uses of Genetic Information and Future Concerns

Investigative genetic genealogy (IGG) is a forensic technique that has been used by law enforcement to resolve more than 1,000 cases of violent crimes and unidentified human remains. IGG emerged in 2018 when it was used to identify the notorious Golden State Killer and hold him accountable for dozens of violent crimes that had long gone cold. IGG has since been integrated into active investigations; for example, it led to the identification of a suspect in the murders of four college students in Idaho at the start of the investigation. In criminal investigations, IGG involves law enforcement: uploading crime scene DNA to a commercial genetic genealogy database to ascertain individuals genetically related to the perpetrator, building the perpetrator’s family tree, and eventually identifying one or more leads for the perpetrator from the family tree in the context of other evidence. While public debate has focused on the use of IGG to generate suspect leads, less attention has been paid to other nonmedical uses of DNA, including for exoneration of wrongfully convicted persons and for humanitarian purposes such as identifying unknown deceased persons and reuniting separated families. Meanwhile, in some cases, law enforcement has used newborn blood spots to identify human remains and generate kinship information for search warrants. This panel will discuss the ethical, legal, and social implications of these new IGG applications and other law enforcement uses of genetic information.

Panelists: Sara Huston, Lurie Children's; Christi Guerrini, Baylor College of Medicine; Jill Robinson, Baylor College of Medicine; Jennifer Wagner, Pennsylvania State University; Moderator: Stephanie Malia Fullerton, University of Washington.