DNA tests that help to determine their own origin, find biological parents, have another side - a violation of the secrets of adoption, donation, invasion of privacy. What is the threat of fashionable mass technology.
Genetics against family ties
Genetic identification of a person was developed for purely applied purposes: establishing the closest relationship, searching for criminals. This requires very little blood, saliva or other organic tissue of a person in which DNA is stored.
The equipment for DNA analysis was expensive, the sample databases were small, and the method itself was laborious, so it was used exclusively by scientists.
Now DNA analysis is available to everyone. For an amount from five to twenty thousand rubles, depending on the type of test and the company providing the service, a person receives a layout according to ethnic origin, where the share of one or another large nationality is visible, the approximate region of origin of the ancestors, a list of "coincidences" - those with whom they are relationship of varying degrees of range.
In the United States, genetic genealogy (experts prefer the epithet "molecular") is experiencing a real boom: spouses give each other a DNA test for their birthday, brothers, sisters, nephews share discount coupons of the respective firms for Christmas. According to the International Society for Genetic Genealogy, about eight million people have used this service by 2018.
The test results are included in the company's database or the client himself uploads them to one of the public databases for finding relatives. Unsurprisingly, the analysis of a large amount of information bears fruit. Sometimes bitter. Someone's DNA test confirmed grandmother's stories about kinship with historical figures, and someone broke their lives, revealing terrible family secrets.
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How an Irishman became a Jew
In 2012, 69-year-old American Alice Collins Plebuch, for fun, did a DNA test to clarify the pedigree. Her father grew up in an orphanage, and although she knew cousins from his side, she hoped to find more relatives through molecular genetics.
According to the analysis, Alice turned out to be half Ashkenazi Jewish, which contradicted family history - her parents were descended from Catholic immigrants from Ireland. At first, the American suspected her mother of infidelity, but testing of her sister and brother showed that they all had one Jewish father. So he was not who he claimed to be.
Alice was persuaded to do a DNA test on her paternal cousin. No relationship was found. But what about family legends, photographs?
In 2015, a certain Jessica Benson from North Carolina appeared in the database of tests among the coincidences of the now step-cousin. According to DNA, they were truly close relatives.
Jessica grew up in a Jewish family and was quite surprised to learn that in fact she has Irish roots. Her paternal aunt was also Irish.
It turned out that Alice's father and Jessica's grandfather were born on September 23, 1913 in a hospital in the Bronx, their birth certificate numbers differed by one digit. The babies were obviously confused. So the Jew Benson became the Irishman Collins.
The Washington Post, which wrote about this dramatic story, predicts that "the 2020s could be the decade that kills family secrets."
Hello, you are our grandmother
American gynecologist Donald Kline, famous in the 1980s, treated married couples for infertility. He told the patients that he was using the sperm of his spouse or, if he was infertile, a donor - some apparently suitable medical intern. In fact, the gynecologist did artificial insemination to women with his own sperm, writes The Atlantic. This came to light forty years later when a young American woman named Jacob Ballard took a DNA test and uploaded the results to a public database. She knew that her mother had used artificial insemination from a donor and just wanted to look for relatives. I thought it would be one or two people maximum. And she found herself among fifty brothers and sisters, whose father was Dr. Kline. Some of his biological children were outraged by this way of being born and sued. Not only did Kline violate ethical standards, but his biological children could well form a couple, not knowing that they are half-brothers and sisters, and this is already a direct threat to offspring. Cline, a long-term retired person, received a fine and a year's probation.
Donald Kline, a fertility specialist from the United States, who used his own sperm during artificial insemination / AP Photo / Marion County, Ind.
It is quite possible to identify a sperm donor using a DNA test and comparison with samples stored in databases. This means that we are talking about an invasion of the privacy of a person who wants to maintain anonymity. Until now, cryobanks have guaranteed a man who has provided his material that he will not meet with biological children, unless he himself wishes. From now on, these guarantees are difficult to comply with, concludes the New York Times, describing the scandal with the American Daniel Teuscher. She made a DNA test on her five-year-old daughter, who was born with donor sperm, and unexpectedly found her grandmother by biological father in a public database. Under the influence of emotions, not thinking about the consequences, Daniel sent her a letter with an offer to get acquainted. There was no answer from the grandmother, but a warning came from the cryobank, in which the girl acquired donor sperm. The lawyers threatened Daniel with a twenty thousand dollar fine for violating the agreement she signed. She was also denied four new semen samples from the same man, which she wanted to use for new pregnancies, and warned of legal action if Daniel continued to try to reveal the donor's identity. According to the experts, cited by the newspaper, cryobanks are in a difficult situation. If they can bind the expectant mother with a written ban on the identification of the donor, then the unborn child cannot. Nothing will stop him, having reached the age of majority, trying to figure out his biological father.if Daniel continues to try to reveal the identity of the donor. According to the experts, cited by the newspaper, cryobanks are in a difficult situation. If they can bind the expectant mother with a written ban on the identification of the donor, then the unborn child cannot. Nothing will stop him, having reached the age of majority, trying to figure out his biological father.if Daniel continues to try to reveal the identity of the donor. According to the experts, cited by the newspaper, cryobanks are in a difficult situation. If they can bind the expectant mother with a written ban on the identification of the donor, then the unborn child cannot. Nothing will stop him, having reached the age of majority, trying to figure out his biological father.
Tatiana Pichugina
