The Human Provenance Project Attempts to Unring the Bell
Last week I wrote about the U.K. Border Agency’s widely criticized Human Provenance pilot project (“Why the Errors of the Human Provenance Project Will Echo Beyond the U.K.’s Borders”) and suggested that “we should not be surprised to see the pilot project substantially revised, or even scrapped altogether.” I worried, though, that the damage may already have been done by contributing to a highly charged atmosphere that could add to pressure for premature regulation and public skepticism.
Today brings word, via ScienceInsider, that the Border Agency is pulling back on its plans to use DNA and isotope analysis to evaluate the nationality of asylum seekers attempting to enter the U.K. According to ScienceInsider:
In a statement released this afternoon by the Home Office, which oversees the Border Agency, the department’s Chief Scientific Advisor Paul Wiles now says such evidence will be collected for later analysis of its potential but will not currently be used for individual case decisions.
As Daniel MacArthur points out at Genetic Future, while some of the initial outrage over the Border Agency’s policy may have been overstated, “the initial policy was still grossly premature” and the “Border Agency’s decision to take a step back and consider the implications before wading into the morass of genetic ancestry testing” is a welcome development.
Why the Errors of the Human Provenance Project Will Echo Beyond the U.K.’s Borders
ScienceInsider has posted several pieces this morning describing and critiquing the U.K. Border Agency’s Human Provenance pilot project:
Scientists are greeting with surprise and dismay a project to use DNA and isotope analysis of tissue from asylum seekers 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 have 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.
In addition to the feature article, ScienceInsider has also published a FAQ describing what is now known about the program as well as links to the underlying documents and expanded reactions from leading geneticists and isotope specialists.
The project is, as the name indicates, a pilot project, and one spokesperson described it as being “in its baby stages.” Still, as reported by ScienceInsider, the scientific community’s reaction to the program appears to be swift, unanimous and extraordinarily critical. Daniel MacArthur of Genetic Future has a slightly more measured take, expressing skepticism about the ability of the government agency to identify precisely an individual’s geographic ancestry based on genomic data and rightly pointing out that the “crucial issue is that it must be shown that the data are used in appropriate ways, and not given undue weight in making serious decisions about a person’s future.” That’s an issue that cannot be resolved until the Border Agency provides additional details on both its scientific methods and its utilization of the collected DNA and isotope data.
The near-uniform scientific skepticism that has greeted the announcement of the Human Provenance project suggests that we should not be surprised to see the pilot project substantially revised, or even scrapped altogether. But has damage already been done?
