Ancient DNA researchers set ethical guidelines for their work

According to Kendra Sirak, a paleontologist at Harvard Medical School and one of the authors, the authors of the new article made a conscious choice to invite only practitioners who were involved in ancient DNA research. They also noted that these instructions were taken from a private group of scientists in the ancient DNA community.

Dr. said. Your secret who works in the lab. by David Reich, one of the leading experts on ancient DNA.

The new document is not the first set of ethical guidelines published on the topic. In 2018, a group of North American-based scientists published guiding rules For ancient DNA research – the first recommendations approved by a professional body, the American Society of Human Genetics.

However, concerns arose during the virtual workshop that the guidelines in this article could not be extended to the world, according to the authors. Jacob Siddik, Postdoctoral Fellow at Dr. Reich Laboratory.

The task of establishing globally valid guidelines for ancient DNA research is daunting, because historical and cultural backgrounds and regulations are very different around the world, according to the authors of the new article. “It is important to focus the indigenous peoples perspective,” said Nathan Nakatsuka, a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School and author of the article, in the United States and Hawaii, where white settlers displaced tribal peoples in the past. Elsewhere in the world, the authors argue that it does not always make sense to consult with communities that live near a site or provide links to a site.

The fourth recommendation of the new document, to make the data available after publication in order to verify scientific evidence, has sparked a lot of discussion. The guidelines call for full openness of the data as “best practice” but only require other researchers to confirm the accuracy of the original study.

Dr. said. your secret. They argued that restricted access to data could direct the availability of that data toward larger, well-equipped laboratories. Dr. said. your secret.