NEWS OF THE WEEK
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FORENSIC SCIENCE
Scientists Decry Isotope, DNA Testing of ‘Nationality’
CAMBRIDGE, UNITED KINGDOM—Scientists
are greeting with 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 Science contacted used to
describe the “Human Provenance pilot proj-
ect,” 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 pre-
mature, even ignoring the moral and ethical
aspects,” says Alec Jeffreys of the Univer-
sity of Leicester, who pioneered human
DNA fingerprinting.
U.K. immigration policies have been
under scrutiny recently as the number of peo-
ple 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 2 OCTOBER 2009
“is regrettable,” says Caroline Slocock, chief
executive of Refugee and Migrant Justice
headquartered in London. Although asylum-
seekers 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
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The jungle. Many refugees in this
French camp—now disbanded—
sought asylum in Europe, particu-
larly in the United Kingdom.
Africa; the extensive research needed to deter-
mine 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 Sci-
ence Service, a former government agency
that has been privatized, requested his opin-
ion 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 San-
tiago de Compostela in Spain, who with col-
leagues recently used a DNA sample to cor-
rectly 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
CREDIT: PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
Provenance program “horrifying,” contends
that even determining a person’s ancestry—
as distinct from nationality—is more prob-
lematic than many believe. “mtDNA will
never have the resolution to specify a country
of origin. Many DNA ancestry testing com-
panies 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
 NEWS OF THE WEEK

some resolution … but not at a very local done on bones, not on hair and teeth. “It’s like ScienceNOW.org
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 From Science’s
in addition to DNA analyses have intensified uses isotope signatures from fossils to examine Online Daily News Site
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 The Upside of Recessions
matched to ratios in the environment where a Torso case are impossible to evaluate because You’ve lost your job, your house, and your
person was born or grew up. But isotope spe- they still haven’t been described in a scientific savings. But, hey, you still have your
cialists point to a seemingly obvious flaw: publication or discussed in court. health, right? Actually, you probably do—
There’s no scientifically accepted evidence Having their fate rest on unproven methods and it may even be improving. Researchers
that isotope signatures at birth or during is particularly dangerous for asylum-seekers in have found that, historically, Americans
childhood are still present in adult samples of the United Kingdom, notes Phillips, because, were healthier during the Great Depression
constantly growing tissues such as hair and unlike criminal defendants, they have limited and other economic downturns than they
nails. At best, researchers say, those tissues or no rights to challenge evidence or appeal. were during periods of prosperity. And they
reflect the past year or so of a person’s life. “It “You can’t parachute in a technique if it isn’t say the trend may still hold true today.
worries me as a scientist that actual peoples’ properly validated,” he says. http://bit.ly/3kBH8L
lives are being influenced based on these The Border Agency says only asylum-seek-

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methods,” says Jane Evans, head of Science- ers who have already failed linguistic tests— Dylan to Darwin: Don’t Look Back
based Archaeology at the National Environ- another contested method of determining Evolution doesn’t make U-turns, according
ment Research Council Isotope Geosciences nationality—will be asked to provide mouth to a new study of proteins. The research
Laboratory in Nottingham. swabs, hair and nail samples. It also released a shows that simply reversing selective pres-
Although the agency hasn’t detailed the written response to scientific criticisms, which sure won’t make a biomolecule revert to an
isotopes it is examining, the use of hair and said: “Ancestral DNA testing will not be used earlier form. The finding confirms a much-
nail samples suggests that the alone but will combine with debated biological law that, evolutionarily
tests will look at “lighter” ele- “My first reaction language analysis, investigative speaking, there’s no going back.
ment isotopes, such as those of interviewing techniques and http://bit.ly/2sXUxo
is this is wildly
hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, and other recognized forensic disci-
nitrogen, all of which are incor- premature, even plines. The results of the com- Wolf in Coyote’s Clothing
porated into the keratin and ignoring the moral bination of these procedures Farmers depend on hybrid vigor for
other proteins as those tissues may indicate a person’s possi- improved crop yields, as seeds produced
grow. Isotopes of strontium and ethical aspects.” ble origin and enable the from different strains of, say, corn, can lead
and other “heavier” elements —ALEC JEFFREYS, UKBA to make further en- to superior crops. Hybrid vigor seems to
incorporate into bones and UNIVERSITY OF LEICESTER quiries leading to the return of have worked for coyotes in the Northeast-
teeth throughout life and some those intending on abusing the ern United States as well, according to a
evidence suggests that strontium measure- U.K.’s asylum system. This project is working genetic study and physical analysis of the
ments can match people to geographic locales with a number of leading scientists in this field animals: Coyotes
in which they were born, or at least grew up. In who have studied differences in the genetic in this part of the
contrast, the lighter isotopes in tissues such as backgrounds of various population groups.” United States are
hair and nails being collected by the Border The Border Agency has not yet responded bigger than their
Agency are typically used to reveal recent to a request to identify the scientists it is western counter-
diets and climatic conditions, not ethnicity. working with, nor has it cited any scientific parts because, as
“I don’t think I could tell the difference papers that validate its DNA and isotope their ancestors
between a Kenyan and a Somalian,” says methods. It’s also not clear who is conducting migrated into the territory, they mated with
Tamsin O’Connell of the University of Cam- the DNA and isotope analyses for the Border wolves along the way. http://bit.ly/vvsqU
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 cen- Taking the Tally of Curious Triangles
topes from soft tissues. ter for isotope studies, is not involved. Several What do the numbers 5, 6, 7, 13, 14, 15,
O’Connell, Evans, and others say they’re researchers say they suspect private labs are 20, 21, 22, and 23 have in common?
puzzled that one Border Agency document doing most of the work—and they question if They’re all “congruent” numbers, that is,
titled “Nationality-Swapping” uses the notori- such labs have been properly vetted for relia- numbers related to the areas of certain tri-
ous “Adam Torso” case as a proof of principle bility. Among their many concerns, some sci- angles. Even if that answer didn’t leap to
for employing isotope analysis. In this highly entists also worry that statistical uncertainties mind, you may be intrigued to know that
publicized murder in 2001, only the mutilated may be overlooked. mathematicians have now cataloged the
torso of a teenager was found in the Thames A Border Agency spokesperson defended congruent numbers—which are easy to
river. Using isotope analysis, “the child’s body its Human Provenance program as a “small define but not so easy to spot—up to a tril-
was traced to a small Nigerian town in an area pilot at the moment. It’s in its baby stages. lion. http://bit.ly/3uj8bt
CREDIT: ISTOCKPHOTO

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 Read the full postings, comments, and more
describing the program and hear more reac- hate to see asylum decisions made [with on sciencenow.sciencemag.org.
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

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