Regulating forensic genetic genealogy
By Natalie Ram, Erin E. Murphy, and Sonia M. Suter,
Science
| 09. 24. 2021
In May 2021, Maryland enacted the first law in the United States—and in the world—that comprehensively regulates law enforcement’s use of consumer genetic data to investigate crimes (1). Until now, the primary restraint on law enforcement has come from consumer genetics platforms themselves, with some declining to cooperate, some covertly cooperating, and a handful working openly with criminal investigators. Courts have largely taken a hands-off approach, and one of the only efforts at oversight emerged from the US Department of Justice (DOJ), which issued an “interim” policy in November 2019. By contrast, Maryland’s new law—adopted with near-unanimous, bipartisan support—engaged a broad array of stakeholders and was adopted by elected officials after a transparent and open legislative process. Its success provides a roadmap for regulating genetic genealogy in a way that balances privacy and public safety, and its terms include six critical features that others should model moving forward.
Solving Crimes, Provoking Alarm
The technology at issue in the Maryland law came to the public’s attention with the high-profile arrest of Joseph James DeAngelo Jr. as the Golden State...
Related Articles
By Jonathan D. Grinstein, Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News | 06.26.2024
Partial screenshot from The Bridge Recombination Mechanism
video by The Arc Institute on YouTube (CC)
Buried in a family of mobile genetic elements, Arc Institute researchers led by Patrick Hsu, PhD, have discovered an RNA-guided system that enables modular...
By Carl Zimmer, The New York Times | 05.31.2024
Last year, Jaume Pellicer led a team of fellow scientists into a forest on Grande Terre, an island east of Australia. They were in search of a fern called Tmesipteris oblanceolata. Standing just a few inches tall, it was not...
By Liz Szabo, The New York Times | 05.29.2024
By the time Rena Barrow-Wells gave birth to her fourth baby in 2020, she was well-versed in caring for a child with cystic fibrosis. She was also experienced in fighting for a diagnosis of the disease, which runs in families...
By Alison Snyder, Axios | 06.06.2024
Gene editing's next chapter will be focused on tackling cancers and more common diseases, uncovering new details about aging and other fundamental aspects of biology and editing RNA, top scientists in the field said this week.
The big picture: ...