Gattaca: Part 2 — Genetic Surveillance
What would happen if you were pulled over for a traffic stop and asked to spit in a test tube for genetic verification? Is this the plotline for Gattaca: Part 2 or something eerily present in modern life? As the federal government tests its sequencing power on the border with undocumented border crossings today, I can’t help but feel that the scary possibility of genetic discrimination is being piloted on incoming immigrants at our border today. In October 2019, the US federal government moved to ramp up bulk testing of incoming immigrants it apprehended regardless of criminal status (illegal border entry and undocumented statuses are not crimes) 1.
This testing strategy has two detrimental effects on society en masse: prototyping bulk, rapid testing of a large population by a federal government and a chilling deterrent to those wanting to immigrate to America in hope of a better life. Both effects have many implications, and I will just talk about what I feel is the most troublesome from my perspective.
Rapid testing by a federal government can be used in a wide variety of public applications, but none so invasive as involuntarily predestination. Testing and insertion of your genetic sequence into a large federal database is more than problematic. One of America’s sacred virtues is self-determination and having yourself involuntarily saying you can or cannot travel here, go there, or do this act is an anathema to our mythological founding in the USA. For example, if I am pulled over for a traffic violation and my genetic sequence is ran indicating that I might have a limited-vision phenotype or other genetic affect might be enough grounds for detainment. Or imagine applying for a job at a new company and your background check involving a cursory screen of a database indicates you might have a disability against which the company discriminates either knowingly or unknowingly?
The larger “cooling effect” on immigration may not stop at the US’s southern border. A traveling professor applying for a work visa as a guest lecturer might be subject to the same immigration screening as those being detained at the border for fear that the legal temporary resident my overstay their visas. This cooling effect could ripple through the economy of America just as the ripples of our current immigration woes travel through the national discourse of the Trump administration.
The ramifications of widespread genetic surveillance are severe and dramatic, particularly involuntary screening. Do the benefits of genetic screening in health or ancestry applications desensitize us the threat of a federal genetic surveillance program? Do other public benefits justify the program? I’m curious to hear your thoughts!
1. The government’s plan to collect migrant DNA could send us down a slippery slope for surveillance. Popular Science Web site. https://www.popsci.com/ICE-detainment-camp-DNA-test-CODIS/. Accessed Nov 24, 2020.
