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Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on October 2, 2009
NEWS OF THE WEEK
The jungle. Many refugees in this French camp—now disbanded— sought asylum in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom.
FORENSIC SCIENCE
CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM—Scientists
are greeting with dismay a project to use DNA and isotope analysis of tissue from asylumseekers to evaluate their nationality and help decide who can enter the United Kingdom. “Horrifying,” “naïve,” and “flawed” are among the adjectives geneticists and isotope specialists Science contacted used to describe the “Human Provenance pilot project,” launched quietly in mid-September by the U.K. Border Agency. Their consensus: The project is not scientifically valid—or even sensible. “My first reaction is this is wildly premature, even ignoring the moral and ethical aspects,” says Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester, who pioneered human DNA fingerprinting. U.K. immigration policies have been under scrutiny recently as the number of people claiming asylum has soared and as French police in Calais last week cleared a camp of migrants hoping to make it across the English Channel. The existence of a DNA-based program to identify nationality was revealed in late September by the Daily Mail and The Observer, sparking protests from refugee advocates. Science has obtained Border Agency documents showing that isotope analyses of hair and nail samples will also be conducted “to help identify a person’s true country of origin.” The project
30
“is regrettable,” says Caroline Slocock, chief executive of Refugee and Migrant Justice headquartered in London. Although asylumseekers are asked to provide tissue samples voluntarily, turning down a government request for tissue could be misinterpreted, she says, “so we believe [the program] should not be introduced at all.” The Border Agency’s DNA-testing plans would use mouth swabs for mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome testing, as well as analyses of subtle genetic variations called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). One goal of the project is to determine whether asylum-seekers claiming to be from Somalia and fleeing persecution are actually from another African country such as Kenya. If successful, the Border Agency suggests its pilot project could be extended to confirming other nationalities. Yet scientists say the Border Agency’s goals confuse ancestry or ethnicity with nationality. David Balding, a population geneticist at Imperial College London, notes that “genes don’t respect national borders, as many legitimate citizens are migrants or direct descendants of migrants, and many national borders split ethnic groups.” After reviewing the Border Agency’s plans, Jeffreys echoed those criticisms in an e-mail to Science: “The Borders Agency is clearly making huge and unwarranted assumptions about population structure in
2 OCTOBER 2009
VOL 326
SCIENCE
Published by AAAS
Africa; the extensive research needed to determine population structure and the ability or otherwise of DNA to pinpoint ethnic origin in this region simply has not been done. Even if it did work (which I doubt), assigning a person to a population does not establish nationality people move! The whole proposal is naive and scientifically flawed.” Another geneticist says the Forensic Science Service, a former government agency that has been privatized, requested his opinion earlier this year on how to develop a genetic assay to distinguish among East African populations. “I thought it was for forensic purposes, not border control,” says Christopher Phillips of the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, who with colleagues recently used a DNA sample to correctly infer the ancestry of a suspect in the 2004 train bombings in Madrid. Mark Thomas, a geneticist of University College London who considers the Human Provenance program “horrifying,” contends that even determining a person’s ancestry— as distinct from nationality—is more problematic than many believe. “mtDNA will never have the resolution to specify a country of origin. Many DNA ancestry testing companies have sprung up over the last 10 years, often based on mtDNA, but what they are selling is little better than genetic astrology,” he says. “Dense genomic SNP data does have
www.sciencemag.org
CREDIT: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Scientists Decry Isotope, DNA Testing of ‘Nationality’
CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO
NEWS OF THE WEEK
www.sciencemag.org
SCIENCE
VOL 326
Published by AAAS
ScienceNOW.org From Science’s Online Daily News Site The Upside of Recessions You’ve lost your job, your house, and your savings. But, hey, you still have your health, right? Actually, you probably do— and it may even be improving. Researchers have found that, historically, Americans were healthier during the Great Depression and other economic downturns than they were during periods of prosperity. And they say the trend may still hold true today. http://bit.ly/3kBH8L
Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on October 2, 2009
some resolution … but not at a very local done on bones, not on hair and teeth. “It’s like scale, and with considerable errors.” adding 2 and 2 and getting 31∕2,” says Jessica Details of the plan to use isotope analyses Pearson of the University of Liverpool, who in addition to DNA analyses have intensified uses isotope signatures from fossils to examine skepticism. The plan is to look for ratios of the diet of ancient humans. Pearson also points certain isotopes in tissue that could be out that the forensic methods used in the Adam matched to ratios in the environment where a Torso case are impossible to evaluate because person was born or grew up. But isotope spe- they still haven’t been described in a scientific cialists point to a seemingly obvious flaw: publication or discussed in court. There’s no scientifically accepted evidence Having their fate rest on unproven methods that isotope signatures at birth or during is particularly dangerous for asylum-seekers in childhood are still present in adult samples of the United Kingdom, notes Phillips, because, constantly growing tissues such as hair and unlike criminal defendants, they have limited nails. At best, researchers say, those tissues or no rights to challenge evidence or appeal. reflect the past year or so of a person’s life. “It “You can’t parachute in a technique if it isn’t worries me as a scientist that actual peoples’ properly validated,” he says. lives are being influenced based on these The Border Agency says only asylum-seekmethods,” says Jane Evans, head of Science- ers who have already failed linguistic tests— based Archaeology at the National Environ- another contested method of determining ment Research Council Isotope Geosciences nationality—will be asked to provide mouth Laboratory in Nottingham. swabs, hair and nail samples. It also released a Although the agency hasn’t detailed the written response to scientific criticisms, which isotopes it is examining, the use of hair and said: “Ancestral DNA testing will not be used nail samples suggests that the alone but will combine with tests will look at “lighter” ele- “My first reaction language analysis, investigative ment isotopes, such as those of interviewing techniques and is this is wildly hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and other recognized forensic discinitrogen, all of which are incor- premature, even plines. The results of the comporated into the keratin and ignoring the moral bination of these procedures other proteins as those tissues may indicate a person’s possigrow. Isotopes of strontium and ethical aspects.” ble origin and enable the and other “heavier” elements —ALEC JEFFREYS, UKBA to make further enincorporate into bones and UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER quiries leading to the return of teeth throughout life and some those intending on abusing the evidence suggests that strontium measure- U.K.’s asylum system. This project is working ments can match people to geographic locales with a number of leading scientists in this field in which they were born, or at least grew up. In who have studied differences in the genetic contrast, the lighter isotopes in tissues such as backgrounds of various population groups.” hair and nails being collected by the Border The Border Agency has not yet responded Agency are typically used to reveal recent to a request to identify the scientists it is diets and climatic conditions, not ethnicity. working with, nor has it cited any scientific “I don’t think I could tell the difference papers that validate its DNA and isotope between a Kenyan and a Somalian,” says methods. It’s also not clear who is conducting Tamsin O’Connell of the University of Cam- the DNA and isotope analyses for the Border bridge in the United Kingdom, an archaeol- Agency. Evans says her lab, which is arguably ogist who specializes in studying light iso- the United Kingdom’s leading academic centopes from soft tissues. ter for isotope studies, is not involved. Several O’Connell, Evans, and others say they’re researchers say they suspect private labs are puzzled that one Border Agency document doing most of the work—and they question if titled “Nationality-Swapping” uses the notori- such labs have been properly vetted for reliaous “Adam Torso” case as a proof of principle bility. Among their many concerns, some scifor employing isotope analysis. In this highly entists also worry that statistical uncertainties publicized murder in 2001, only the mutilated may be overlooked. torso of a teenager was found in the Thames A Border Agency spokesperson defended river. Using isotope analysis, “the child’s body its Human Provenance program as a “small was traced to a small Nigerian town in an area pilot at the moment. It’s in its baby stages. about 100 x 50 km wide,” a Border Agency We want to get feedback.” They’re getting document states. (To read the documents plenty of that from outraged scientists. “I’d describing the program and hear more reac- hate to see asylum decisions made [with tion, follow the story at ScienceInsider.) The these methods]. We’re dealing with people’s document notes, however, that the analysis was lives,” says Pearson. –JOHN TRAVIS
Dylan to Darwin: Don’t Look Back Evolution doesn’t make U-turns, according to a new study of proteins. The research shows that simply reversing selective pressure won’t make a biomolecule revert to an earlier form. The finding confirms a muchdebated biological law that, evolutionarily speaking, there’s no going back. http://bit.ly/2sXUxo Wolf in Coyote’s Clothing Farmers depend on hybrid vigor for improved crop yields, as seeds produced from different strains of, say, corn, can lead to superior crops. Hybrid vigor seems to have worked for coyotes in the Northeastern United States as well, according to a genetic study and physical analysis of the animals: Coyotes in this part of the United States are bigger than their western counterparts because, as their ancestors migrated into the territory, they mated with wolves along the way. http://bit.ly/vvsqU Taking the Tally of Curious Triangles What do the numbers 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, and 23 have in common? They’re all “congruent” numbers, that is, numbers related to the areas of certain triangles. Even if that answer didn’t leap to mind, you may be intrigued to know that mathematicians have now cataloged the congruent numbers—which are easy to define but not so easy to spot—up to a trillion. http://bit.ly/3uj8bt Read the full postings, comments, and more on sciencenow.sciencemag.org.
2 OCTOBER 2009
31
NEWS OF THE WEEK
The jungle. Many refugees in this French camp—now disbanded— sought asylum in Europe, particularly in the United Kingdom.
FORENSIC SCIENCE
CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM—Scientists
are greeting with dismay a project to use DNA and isotope analysis of tissue from asylumseekers to evaluate their nationality and help decide who can enter the United Kingdom. “Horrifying,” “naïve,” and “flawed” are among the adjectives geneticists and isotope specialists Science contacted used to describe the “Human Provenance pilot project,” launched quietly in mid-September by the U.K. Border Agency. Their consensus: The project is not scientifically valid—or even sensible. “My first reaction is this is wildly premature, even ignoring the moral and ethical aspects,” says Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester, who pioneered human DNA fingerprinting. U.K. immigration policies have been under scrutiny recently as the number of people claiming asylum has soared and as French police in Calais last week cleared a camp of migrants hoping to make it across the English Channel. The existence of a DNA-based program to identify nationality was revealed in late September by the Daily Mail and The Observer, sparking protests from refugee advocates. Science has obtained Border Agency documents showing that isotope analyses of hair and nail samples will also be conducted “to help identify a person’s true country of origin.” The project
30
“is regrettable,” says Caroline Slocock, chief executive of Refugee and Migrant Justice headquartered in London. Although asylumseekers are asked to provide tissue samples voluntarily, turning down a government request for tissue could be misinterpreted, she says, “so we believe [the program] should not be introduced at all.” The Border Agency’s DNA-testing plans would use mouth swabs for mitochondrial DNA and Y chromosome testing, as well as analyses of subtle genetic variations called single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). One goal of the project is to determine whether asylum-seekers claiming to be from Somalia and fleeing persecution are actually from another African country such as Kenya. If successful, the Border Agency suggests its pilot project could be extended to confirming other nationalities. Yet scientists say the Border Agency’s goals confuse ancestry or ethnicity with nationality. David Balding, a population geneticist at Imperial College London, notes that “genes don’t respect national borders, as many legitimate citizens are migrants or direct descendants of migrants, and many national borders split ethnic groups.” After reviewing the Border Agency’s plans, Jeffreys echoed those criticisms in an e-mail to Science: “The Borders Agency is clearly making huge and unwarranted assumptions about population structure in
2 OCTOBER 2009
VOL 326
SCIENCE
Published by AAAS
Africa; the extensive research needed to determine population structure and the ability or otherwise of DNA to pinpoint ethnic origin in this region simply has not been done. Even if it did work (which I doubt), assigning a person to a population does not establish nationality people move! The whole proposal is naive and scientifically flawed.” Another geneticist says the Forensic Science Service, a former government agency that has been privatized, requested his opinion earlier this year on how to develop a genetic assay to distinguish among East African populations. “I thought it was for forensic purposes, not border control,” says Christopher Phillips of the University of Santiago de Compostela in Spain, who with colleagues recently used a DNA sample to correctly infer the ancestry of a suspect in the 2004 train bombings in Madrid. Mark Thomas, a geneticist of University College London who considers the Human Provenance program “horrifying,” contends that even determining a person’s ancestry— as distinct from nationality—is more problematic than many believe. “mtDNA will never have the resolution to specify a country of origin. Many DNA ancestry testing companies have sprung up over the last 10 years, often based on mtDNA, but what they are selling is little better than genetic astrology,” he says. “Dense genomic SNP data does have
www.sciencemag.org
CREDIT: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Scientists Decry Isotope, DNA Testing of ‘Nationality’
CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO
NEWS OF THE WEEK
www.sciencemag.org
SCIENCE
VOL 326
Published by AAAS
ScienceNOW.org From Science’s Online Daily News Site The Upside of Recessions You’ve lost your job, your house, and your savings. But, hey, you still have your health, right? Actually, you probably do— and it may even be improving. Researchers have found that, historically, Americans were healthier during the Great Depression and other economic downturns than they were during periods of prosperity. And they say the trend may still hold true today. http://bit.ly/3kBH8L
Downloaded from www.sciencemag.org on October 2, 2009
some resolution … but not at a very local done on bones, not on hair and teeth. “It’s like scale, and with considerable errors.” adding 2 and 2 and getting 31∕2,” says Jessica Details of the plan to use isotope analyses Pearson of the University of Liverpool, who in addition to DNA analyses have intensified uses isotope signatures from fossils to examine skepticism. The plan is to look for ratios of the diet of ancient humans. Pearson also points certain isotopes in tissue that could be out that the forensic methods used in the Adam matched to ratios in the environment where a Torso case are impossible to evaluate because person was born or grew up. But isotope spe- they still haven’t been described in a scientific cialists point to a seemingly obvious flaw: publication or discussed in court. There’s no scientifically accepted evidence Having their fate rest on unproven methods that isotope signatures at birth or during is particularly dangerous for asylum-seekers in childhood are still present in adult samples of the United Kingdom, notes Phillips, because, constantly growing tissues such as hair and unlike criminal defendants, they have limited nails. At best, researchers say, those tissues or no rights to challenge evidence or appeal. reflect the past year or so of a person’s life. “It “You can’t parachute in a technique if it isn’t worries me as a scientist that actual peoples’ properly validated,” he says. lives are being influenced based on these The Border Agency says only asylum-seekmethods,” says Jane Evans, head of Science- ers who have already failed linguistic tests— based Archaeology at the National Environ- another contested method of determining ment Research Council Isotope Geosciences nationality—will be asked to provide mouth Laboratory in Nottingham. swabs, hair and nail samples. It also released a Although the agency hasn’t detailed the written response to scientific criticisms, which isotopes it is examining, the use of hair and said: “Ancestral DNA testing will not be used nail samples suggests that the alone but will combine with tests will look at “lighter” ele- “My first reaction language analysis, investigative ment isotopes, such as those of interviewing techniques and is this is wildly hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and other recognized forensic discinitrogen, all of which are incor- premature, even plines. The results of the comporated into the keratin and ignoring the moral bination of these procedures other proteins as those tissues may indicate a person’s possigrow. Isotopes of strontium and ethical aspects.” ble origin and enable the and other “heavier” elements —ALEC JEFFREYS, UKBA to make further enincorporate into bones and UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER quiries leading to the return of teeth throughout life and some those intending on abusing the evidence suggests that strontium measure- U.K.’s asylum system. This project is working ments can match people to geographic locales with a number of leading scientists in this field in which they were born, or at least grew up. In who have studied differences in the genetic contrast, the lighter isotopes in tissues such as backgrounds of various population groups.” hair and nails being collected by the Border The Border Agency has not yet responded Agency are typically used to reveal recent to a request to identify the scientists it is diets and climatic conditions, not ethnicity. working with, nor has it cited any scientific “I don’t think I could tell the difference papers that validate its DNA and isotope between a Kenyan and a Somalian,” says methods. It’s also not clear who is conducting Tamsin O’Connell of the University of Cam- the DNA and isotope analyses for the Border bridge in the United Kingdom, an archaeol- Agency. Evans says her lab, which is arguably ogist who specializes in studying light iso- the United Kingdom’s leading academic centopes from soft tissues. ter for isotope studies, is not involved. Several O’Connell, Evans, and others say they’re researchers say they suspect private labs are puzzled that one Border Agency document doing most of the work—and they question if titled “Nationality-Swapping” uses the notori- such labs have been properly vetted for reliaous “Adam Torso” case as a proof of principle bility. Among their many concerns, some scifor employing isotope analysis. In this highly entists also worry that statistical uncertainties publicized murder in 2001, only the mutilated may be overlooked. torso of a teenager was found in the Thames A Border Agency spokesperson defended river. Using isotope analysis, “the child’s body its Human Provenance program as a “small was traced to a small Nigerian town in an area pilot at the moment. It’s in its baby stages. about 100 x 50 km wide,” a Border Agency We want to get feedback.” They’re getting document states. (To read the documents plenty of that from outraged scientists. “I’d describing the program and hear more reac- hate to see asylum decisions made [with tion, follow the story at ScienceInsider.) The these methods]. We’re dealing with people’s document notes, however, that the analysis was lives,” says Pearson. –JOHN TRAVIS
Dylan to Darwin: Don’t Look Back Evolution doesn’t make U-turns, according to a new study of proteins. The research shows that simply reversing selective pressure won’t make a biomolecule revert to an earlier form. The finding confirms a muchdebated biological law that, evolutionarily speaking, there’s no going back. http://bit.ly/2sXUxo Wolf in Coyote’s Clothing Farmers depend on hybrid vigor for improved crop yields, as seeds produced from different strains of, say, corn, can lead to superior crops. Hybrid vigor seems to have worked for coyotes in the Northeastern United States as well, according to a genetic study and physical analysis of the animals: Coyotes in this part of the United States are bigger than their western counterparts because, as their ancestors migrated into the territory, they mated with wolves along the way. http://bit.ly/vvsqU Taking the Tally of Curious Triangles What do the numbers 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15, 20, 21, 22, and 23 have in common? They’re all “congruent” numbers, that is, numbers related to the areas of certain triangles. Even if that answer didn’t leap to mind, you may be intrigued to know that mathematicians have now cataloged the congruent numbers—which are easy to define but not so easy to spot—up to a trillion. http://bit.ly/3uj8bt Read the full postings, comments, and more on sciencenow.sciencemag.org.
2 OCTOBER 2009
31
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