Saturday, September 26, 2009

The Fallibility of DNA evidence

Be careful of leaving traces of your DNA anywhere. A crime scene may just have your DNA on it. According to a NY Times article, scientists in Israel found that DNA evidence may be fabricated. Now this certainly undermines what we thought was a surefire way of proving “who-dunnit” in criminal cases.

“The scientists fabricated blood and saliva samples containing DNA from a person other than the donor of the blood and saliva. They also showed that if they had access to a DNA profile in a database, they could construct a sample of DNA to match that profile without obtaining any tissue from that person.”

According to Dr. Dan Fumkin (who was quoted in the said article), even an undergraduate Biology student could do this. However, there is a certain test called the Nucleix’s Test which would be used to distinguish real DNA from fake ones. While it is comforting to think that ordinary criminals (meaning those who have no knack for science or genetics) won’t be using this any time soon, but what about those who can afford to buy or corrupt people who can? They perpetrating a crime and blaming it on another person has just reached a whole new (high tech) level.

If DNA evidence is not all that infallible, then we should find a new method in the future or secure that the handling of DNA evidence from the crime scene is secure (meaning lesser chances of contamination). This surely casts doubt on the credibility of DNA evidence. However, for now, it remains to be the “golden standard of proof.”

1 comment:

Ma. Lourdes C. Polido said...

Read somewhere that there's this consumer gene-testing service where you send you spit sample and then they give you results. basta parang it estimates your predisposition to certain conditions. hehe, nagalingan lang ako before. its so Gattaca plus theyRe making it into a business pa!