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Ethical considerations for human sequences in environmental DNA

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 7, pages 1334–1335 (2023)Cite this article

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The analysis of environmental DNA (eDNA) is a rapidly developing field with great potential and as-yet-undreamed-of uses in conservation and ecology1,2,3. Residual genetic information from environmental samples can reveal species distributions and genotypes4,5,6, among other information about the living elements of ecosystems. However, as with all tools, eDNA techniques can be misused and, in particular, the analysis of human DNA from environmental samples has raised ethical concerns about the information that might be derived from those samples.

Human sequences are nearly ubiquitous in vertebrate metabarcoding studies, no matter the target taxa, given the biomass of humanity on the planet. Whitmore et al. have recently shown that deep-sequencing-based eDNA approaches capture extensive human genomic information just as readily as that from the intended target species7. They also use these results to point out ethical dilemmas — from consent, privacy and surveillance to data ownership — that require careful consideration and potentially novel regulation (as also discussed in ref. 8); particular concerns have previously been raised in the context of eDNA and Indigenous communities9. Other foreseeable issues include eDNA analysis used to identify individuals with a genetic predisposition to certain diseases (such as mental illness or addiction) and assorted claims to intellectual property in human genetic information from environmental samples.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate School of Informatics, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan

    Hideyuki Doi

  2. School of Marine & Environmental Affairs, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Ryan P. Kelly

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  1. Hideyuki Doi
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  2. Ryan P. Kelly
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Correspondence to Hideyuki Doi or Ryan P. Kelly.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Doi, H., Kelly, R.P. Ethical considerations for human sequences in environmental DNA. Nat Ecol Evol 7, 1334–1335 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-023-02124-7

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