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Ethical Issues in Secondary Uses of Human Biological Materials from Mass Disasters

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2021

Bartha Maria Knoppers ,
Madelaine Saginur  and
Howard Cash
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Extract

In the trauma surrounding mass disasters, the need to identify victims accurately and as soon as possible is critical. DNA identification testing is increasingly used to identify human bodies and remains where the deceased cannot be identified by traditional means. This form of testing compares DNA taken from the body of the deceased with DNA taken from their personal items (e.g. hairbrush, toothbrush etc.) or from close biological relatives. DNA identification testing was used to identify the victims of the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York on September 11, 2001, and of the victims of the Tsunami that hit Asia on December 26, 2004. Shortly after the 9/11 attack, police investigators asked the victims' families for personal items belonging to the missing, and for DNA samples from family members themselves. The New York medical examiner's office coordinated the DNA identification testing program; however, some of the identification work was contracted out to private laboratories.

Type
Symposium
Information
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics , Volume 34 , Issue 2 , Summer 2006 , pp. 352 - 365
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of Law, Medicine and Ethics 2006

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