Antibiotic
Resistance
and
Eradicating
Malaria
DR ADAM
RUTHERFORD
… An Interview by Sachi Gwalani
Geneticist, author, and broadcaster, Dr Adam Rutherford, was welcomed to Sevenoaks School to
talk about his most recent publication, ‘How to Argue with a Racist’. In my interview with the
BBC Radio 4 host, we discussed the commercialisation and utility of DNA sequencing, the use of
CRISPR, and the enduring significance of Orgel’s evolutionary axiom.
SG: In ‘How to Argue with a Racist’, you talk
about the commercialisation of DNA
sequencing, and how genetic-testing companies
infer one’s ancestral roots in relation to DNA
from existing customer databases. Do you think
that scientists need to raise awareness of such
limitations amongst the public?
Dr Rutherford: Yes, scientists and science
communicators should be making sure that the public
are aware of the product that they are buying, and
what it can and can’t tell you. In that regard, I’m very
sceptical about what these products are for because
they identify genetic similarities to people who are
living and already on their customer databases.
From that we infer ancestry, because there isn’t
actually a method for determining one’s ancestry
using DNA. Now, the marketing of these types of
products, I think, appeals to our vanity and our
narcissism, and also, just a very human desire to have
narrative in our own lives, and that’s a very normal
human condition. I don’t think that genetics can tell
us anything beyond the trivial or the broad about
ancestry, apart from that it’s very good at telling you
immediate relationships.
Relatedness in terms of genetics drops off a cliff after
about third cousin. I can look in this lunch hall and say
with some confidence that many of the people here are
my third or fourth cousins. DNA isn’t going to tell us
anything significantly different, unless it turns out by
some freakish condition, we’re actually first cousins,
which is unlikely.