Counterfeit DNA

Preventing the fraudulent use of your credit cards can be a headache - keeping on top of your credit report, scrutinizing each line of your bill, shredding the sometimes endless supply of direct-mail offers.  It’s about keeping your identity safe, however, and it’s part of the routine.  A disturbing story in today’s New York Times, however, takes identity theft to a whole new level – fraudulent use of your DNA.

In a paper published by the journal of Forensc Science International, scientists in Isreal were able to fabricate DNA evidence – long held to be the ”gold standard” in proving identity.

Current technology that is routinely used to test DNA can also be used to create unlimited amounts of “artificial” DNA with a genetic profile to match anyone or no one.  In the wrong hands, aritifical DNA could be planted at crime scenes.  According to the scientists, there is no current  forensic procedure to distinguish between artificial and authentic DNA contained in samples of blood, saliva, or left behind on touched surfaces.

In other words, “You can just engineer a crime scene,” said Dan Frumkin, lead author of the paper. “Any biology undergraduate could perform this.”

This revelation is not startling to those of us who have been concerned by the dramatic rise in the amount of DNA samples contained in criminal databases.  In many states, even arrestees – who are supposed to be “innocent until proven guilty” must give a DNA sample that will be included in the database, perhaps to infinity.

Since the criminal justice system heavily relies on DNA – and jurors expect such evidence in trials (the so-called “CSI Effect”), this research leaves DNA evidence between a rock and hard place.  It is supposed to be incontrovertable evidence of identity, but at that same time it is vulnerable to fraud. 

It’s not only the prosecution that could suffer the effects of this new reality. In cases of actual innocence, DNA is often the lynchpin to proving innocence and gaining freedom. If the sanctity of a DNA test is taken out of the equation, hundreds (if not thousands) of innocent persons face a lifetime behind bars for crimes they didn’t commit.

This topic is one that will not soon fade away. It presents a very real concern in a system already plauged with problems.