DNA tests are not that simple

DNA tests come in a bottle these days. Bin Laden’s DNA was confirmed somewhere in Pakistan or on an aircraft carrier within hours after he was alledgedly shot. Now, also the DNA of IMF director Strauss Kahn is confirmed within days.

Michael Ruppert, former FBI investigator, wrote what a world-class microbiologist wrote to him on the Bin Laden case:

I am a molecular biologist and I’ve built a lucrative career in human genetics. I have run one of the world’s largest and most productive DNA genotyping facilities and now I am helping to build the global market for clinical whole human genome sequencing for the world’s largest human genome sequencing facility. I have worked with the absolute best genome scientists from the military, academia, medicine, and industry from around the world. I know DNA. And, one thing I know about DNA is that you cannot, repeat CANNOT: take a tissue sample from a shot-in-the-noggin-dead-guy in a north central Pakistan special forces op, extract the DNA, prepare the DNA for assay, test the DNA, curate the raw DNA sequence data, assemble the reads or QC the genotype, compare the tested DNA to a reference, and make a positive identity determination… all in 12 hours- let alone transport the tissue samples all the places they’d need to have gone in order to get this done.

Some might try to argue that ruggedized, field ready kits could test a DNA sample- which is true if one is attempting to determine the CLASS of a bacteria. It is not true if one is trying to determine the specific identity of an individual. Any way you slice it, the real work would require days, and I find it unlikely (although not impossible) that an aircraft carrier would have a laboratory outfitted for this kind of work… it is not the Starship Enterprise out there.

Michael Ruppert: Osama and the Ghosts of September 11

The image above is a sign used by a New Zealand gang who conned many people into believing their DNA test provided information about their health.

Categories: Law

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