Ethics of DNA research on human remains: five globally applicable guidelines

Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg, David Anthony, Hiba Babiker, Eszter Bánffy, Thomas Booth, Patricia Capone, Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee, Stefanie Eisenmann, Lars Fehren-Schmitz (), Michael Frachetti, Ricardo Fujita, Catherine J. Frieman, Qiaomei Fu, Victoria Gibbon, Wolfgang Haak, Mateja Hajdinjak, Kerstin P. Hofmann, Brian Holguin, Takeshi Inomata, Hideaki Kanzawa-Kiriyama, William Keegan, Janet Kelso, Johannes Krause, Ganesan Kumaresan, Chapurukha Kusimba, Sibel Kusimba, Carles Lalueza-Fox, Bastien Llamas, Scott MacEachern, Swapan Mallick, Hirofumi Matsumura, Ana Y. Morales-Arce, Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute, Veena Mushrif-Tripathy, Nathan Nakatsuka, Rodrigo Nores, Christine Ogola, Mercedes Okumura, Nick Patterson, Ron Pinhasi, Samayamantri P. R. Prasad, Mary E. Prendergast (), Jose Luis Punzo, David Reich (), Rikai Sawafuji, Elizabeth Sawchuk, Stephan Schiffels, Jakob Sedig (), Svetlana Shnaider, Kendra Sirak (), Pontus Skoglund, Viviane Slon, Meradeth Snow, Marie Soressi, Matthew Spriggs, Philipp W. Stockhammer (), Anna Szécsényi-Nagy, Kumarasamy Thangaraj, Vera Tiesler, Ray Tobler, Chuan-Chao Wang, Christina Warinner, Surangi Yasawardene and Muhammad Zahir
Additional contact information
Songül Alpaslan-Roodenberg: Harvard Medical School
David Anthony: Hartwick College
Hiba Babiker: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Eszter Bánffy: Romano-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute
Thomas Booth: Francis Crick Institute
Patricia Capone: Harvard University
Arati Deshpande-Mukherjee: Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute
Stefanie Eisenmann: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Lars Fehren-Schmitz: University of California
Michael Frachetti: Washington University in St Louis
Ricardo Fujita: Universidad de San Martín de Porres
Catherine J. Frieman: The Australian National University
Qiaomei Fu: Chinese Academy of Sciences
Victoria Gibbon: University of Cape Town
Wolfgang Haak: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Mateja Hajdinjak: Francis Crick Institute
Kerstin P. Hofmann: Romano-Germanic Commission of the German Archaeological Institute
Brian Holguin: University of California
Takeshi Inomata: University of Arizona
Hideaki Kanzawa-Kiriyama: National Museum of Nature and Science
William Keegan: Florida Museum of Natural History
Janet Kelso: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Johannes Krause: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Ganesan Kumaresan: Madurai Kamaraj University
Chapurukha Kusimba: University of South Florida
Sibel Kusimba: University of South Florida
Carles Lalueza-Fox: Institute of Evolutionary Biology (CSIC-UPF)
Bastien Llamas: University of Adelaide
Scott MacEachern: Duke Kunshan University
Swapan Mallick: Harvard Medical School
Hirofumi Matsumura: Sapporo Medical University
Ana Y. Morales-Arce: University of Bern
Giedre Motuzaite Matuzeviciute: Vilnius University
Veena Mushrif-Tripathy: Deccan College Post Graduate and Research Institute
Nathan Nakatsuka: Harvard Medical School
Rodrigo Nores: Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Instituto de Antropología de Córdoba (IDACOR), CONICET
Christine Ogola: National Museums of Kenya
Mercedes Okumura: University of São Paulo
Nick Patterson: Harvard University
Ron Pinhasi: University of Vienna
Samayamantri P. R. Prasad: DBT-Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics
Mary E. Prendergast: Rice University
Jose Luis Punzo: Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia
David Reich: Harvard Medical School
Rikai Sawafuji: The Graduate University for Advanced Studies (SOKENDAI)
Elizabeth Sawchuk: University of Alberta
Stephan Schiffels: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History
Jakob Sedig: Harvard Medical School
Svetlana Shnaider: ArchaeoZOOlogy in Siberia and Central Asia–ZooSCAn, CNRS–IAET SB RAS International Research Laboratory
Kendra Sirak: Harvard Medical School
Pontus Skoglund: Francis Crick Institute
Viviane Slon: Tel Aviv University
Meradeth Snow: University of Montana
Marie Soressi: Leiden University
Matthew Spriggs: The Australian National University
Philipp W. Stockhammer: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Anna Szécsényi-Nagy: Eötvös Loránd Research Network
Kumarasamy Thangaraj: DBT-Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics
Vera Tiesler: Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán
Ray Tobler: University of South Florida
Chuan-Chao Wang: Xiamen University
Christina Warinner: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
Surangi Yasawardene: University of Sri Jayewardenepura
Muhammad Zahir: Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History

Nature, 2021, vol. 599, issue 7883, 41-46

Abstract: Abstract We are a group of archaeologists, anthropologists, curators and geneticists representing diverse global communities and 31 countries. All of us met in a virtual workshop dedicated to ethics in ancient DNA research held in November 2020. There was widespread agreement that globally applicable ethical guidelines are needed, but that recent recommendations grounded in discussion about research on human remains from North America are not always generalizable worldwide. Here we propose the following globally applicable guidelines, taking into consideration diverse contexts. These hold that: (1) researchers must ensure that all regulations were followed in the places where they work and from which the human remains derived; (2) researchers must prepare a detailed plan prior to beginning any study; (3) researchers must minimize damage to human remains; (4) researchers must ensure that data are made available following publication to allow critical re-examination of scientific findings; and (5) researchers must engage with other stakeholders from the beginning of a study and ensure respect and sensitivity to stakeholder perspectives. We commit to adhering to these guidelines and expect they will promote a high ethical standard in DNA research on human remains going forward.

Date: 2021
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-021-04008-x Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:nat:nature:v:599:y:2021:i:7883:d:10.1038_s41586-021-04008-x

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
https://www.nature.com/

DOI: 10.1038/s41586-021-04008-x

Access Statistics for this article

Nature is currently edited by Magdalena Skipper

More articles in Nature from Nature
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().