August 19, 2003
Where Will We Put It All?... Let's take five with Moira Gunn. This is "Five Minutes".
Eighteen years ago a young woman was raped and murdered in San Francisco.. It may as well have been a century, given what the DNA technology of the time could tell the detectives, not to mention the fact that no court of law knew what to make of this emerging science. Still, Barbara Ellis Martz's mother never forgot, and each year she called the police department and renewed her appeal to have the case pursued.
While the investigator on the case had retired, a cop on the beat at that time had risen to direct the evidence storage unit, and the case would never let him go. Through his efforts the case was re-opened, and the DNA that was preserved from the crime has just proved a direct match for a career criminal now serving a long sentence in a California prison.
Stories such as this one have a clear and simple lesson: Once you have the data, never let it go.
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The desire to store DNA samples is ramping up and goes well beyond bringing criminals to justice. From do-it-yourself kits to record your family's DNA to massive data banks at scientific research centers to scores of companies offering huge storage services, the recording and potentially perpetual archive of these samples boggles the mind.
And if we are going to save tiny DNA samples, why not store other critical tissues, as well?
Among the increasing panoply of decisions facing new parents today is whether or not to store the blood which is found in their infant's umbilical cord. For a down payment of around $1,000 and annual fees thereafter hovering around $100, these precious stem cells can be stored and used at a later date.
Even if there is no indication that your child may need these cells, wouldn't this be just smart insurance? Should the requirement ever arise, there'd be no waiting around, hoping for a tissue match, no catastrophe for lack of a match. And this goes as well for other members of the family who were genetically compatible.
Over 100,000 people in the United States alone have betting on this so far, and they're also betting that as time goes by, there will be more and more therapeutic uses as well.
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To date, what we humans have been able to know about our ancestors is sketchy, mainly conveyed through traditional family stories and the unexpected off-hand remark. Even photos are a technology that extends back only a few generations.
So what is it we should pass down to our descendants? Could the human desire to procreate and have our genes live on through our children take on a new dimension? Could it be that responsible parents need to carefully tend the precious stem cells of each newborn to ensure their continued life, and the life of all our offspring to come?
And besides life, there may be other possibilities, including justice and possibly closure. The mother of Barbara Ellis Martz had only one option left: to never give up. But without the raw DNA, her quest would have been hopeless.
These are some of the questions of the new age unfolding all around us, an age where our genes mean so much more than they ever did before.
And as for technology, there is a very mundane challenge: Just how are we going to store it all, and where are we going to put it?
I'm Moira Gunn. This is Five Minutes.
