Couldand ShouldRapid DNA Testing Be Used to Curb the Spread of Coronavirus? – CTech

The emerging coronavirus pandemic has one small but significant silver lining. Advancements in genomic sequencing technology have enabled experts to rapidly isolate and genetically sequence 53 versions of the novel virus, 2019-nCoV.

It may also strike us as a clear violation of fundamental human rights, to be forced into quarantine. In the U.S., however, it is entirely legal. While the legislative powers of the U.S. Congress are limited to what is enumerated in the constitution, the longstanding ability to isolate and quarantine returning Wuhan visitors stems from the broadly applied commerce clause in the U.S. constitution. Under the commerce clause, the government is empowered to regulate interstate commerce, including the passing of communicable disease over state lines under the Public Health Service Act. The states themselves have the power to enforce isolation and quarantines under their respective police powers.

But, with the coronavirus sequence of 29891 nucleotides now known, we could limit the extent of these quarantines that ensnare many healthy individuals in their seeming overuse, especially if the pandemic continues, by simply running what is known as a Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction test (RT-PCR). Succinctly, the viral genome is comprised of RNA, a close analog to our DNA genome. The RNA, if the host is infected with the virus, can be collected and converted into DNA by way of an enzyme, reverse transcriptase. The DNA molecule can then be copied via Polymerase Chain Reaction using the knowledge we have gleaned from the viral genome. The incorporation, or lack thereof, of fluorescing markers into those copies will indicate the presence or absence of the virus.

However, the collection of biomaterials containing DNA and viral RNA from the host as an alternative to quarantining could raise its own host of issues, especially the invasion of privacy, and potentially illegal searches and seizures under the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Notably, the courts only just ruled that the heretofore expansive powers of the authorities to search incoming visitors at border crossings is much narrower than previously thought.

And, worldwide, multiple attempts at wide-scale biometric data collection have been quashed. Kenyas biometric law, which sought to collect facial and other biometric data from its 50 million-plus inhabitants, was forced to stop as courts raised concerns over privacy violations. Such concerns have already played out to some degree in India due to security issues with their 1.1 billion-strong biometric database.

Once the system is set up to do rapid DNA based screening at the border, the U.S. could begin excluding visitors based on other genetic testings as well, using the virus testing infrastructure stationed at various airports and border crossings. But unlike the fingerprinting that is done routinely at many terminals and border crossings, genomic testing could lead to eugenics-inspired abuses, by blocking visitors deemed genetically undesirable. Rampant DNA screenings could also force visitors to confront their genetic destiniesthe discovery of impending genetic diseases, for examplefor merely wanting to come into the U.S.

This is not the only recent brouhaha with the U.K. and DNA. There are several companies operating in the U.K. that test clothing for evidence of infidelity between partners, a potentially illegal activity, punishable by up to three years in prison if the suspect does not consent to the test. Because of this limitation, a number of foreign operators have long refused to work with U.K. based clients in that area.

Dov Greenbaum is a Director at the Zvi Meitar Institute for Legal Implications of Emerging Technologies, at Israeli academic institute IDC Herzliya.

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Couldand ShouldRapid DNA Testing Be Used to Curb the Spread of Coronavirus? - CTech