Mad At Science

The Genographic Project is hoping to collect roughly 100,000 DNA samples from indigenous peoples in order to trace the migratory history of humans.

The study's leaders say studying DNA samples from the world's remaining indigenous groups is a must because their ethnic identities offer something the general public cannot: Their key genetic markers have remained unaltered for hundreds of generations.

"They really give us a glimpse of our ancestors," says Dr. Spencer Wells, the project's leader, "because they've preserved their genetic characteristic."

But it is that very notion of preservation that has at least one group less than enthusiastic about the project. The Indigenous Peoples Council on Biocolonialism has voiced a litany of concerns, both ethical and scientific.

Moreover, the group says the project's purported pursuit of science is an invasive assault on indigenous people's centuries-old belief systems.

"There has to be worth or benefit to the research subjects and in this case there isn't," says Debra Harry, IPCB executive director.

The group insists that the Genographic Project would actually destroy, not promote, indigenous people's understanding of their origins. Le`a Kanehe, IPCB's legal analyst, says the DNA findings "may conflict with indigenous knowledge systems, yet will carry the weight of science, despite the speculative nature of this kind of research."

Himla Soodyall, the project's lead scientist in Johannesburg, says the goal of the study is not to undermine indigenous beliefs but to enhance them.

"It is a universal truth that everyone is interested in their own story," she says. "This information would be useful in supplementing their existing ideas about their history and ancestry that they cherish."

The controversy is not new. In 1991, the Human Genome Diversity Project (HGDP) was launched by a group of population geneticists who also aimed to map genetic diversity in human populations. The project quickly came under attack for pursuing a racist agenda and questionable science because of its focus on sampling cell material from indigenous populations.

The IPCB acknowledges that the Genographic Project has made efforts to rectify some of the faults of the Human Genome Diversity Project. For example, the study says it will not patent any genetic material. Still, Harry says after such a vast collection of DNA samples is amassed, the study could spawn unauthorized and unethical uses of indigenous groups' genetic material for medical – not anthropological – purposes.

Says Harry: "We do not believe they should be trusted."

By Stephen Smith