Grenzkontrollen im Vereinigten Königreich

Scientists are dismayed and outraged at a new project by the UK border agency to test DNA, hair, and nails to determine the nationality of asylum seekers and help decide if they can enter the UK. “Horrifying,” “naive,” and “flawed” are among the words geneticists and isotope specialists have used to describe the “Human Provenance pilot project.” The methods being used to determine ancestry include fingerprinting of mitochondrial DNA and isotope analysis of hair and nails. ScienceInsider blog notes that it is “not clear who is conducting the DNA and isotope analyses for the Border Agency,” and that the agency has not “cited any scientific papers that validate its DNA and isotope methods.”

Aber warum auf teure DNS-Tests zurückgreifen, wenn man doch einfach Nasen vermessen kann?