{"id":14613,"date":"2022-02-18T07:54:04","date_gmt":"2022-02-18T07:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/18\/explainer-why-would-world-leaders-balk-at-giving-putin-dna\/"},"modified":"2022-02-18T07:54:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-18T07:54:04","slug":"explainer-why-would-world-leaders-balk-at-giving-putin-dna","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mailinvest.blog\/index.php\/2022\/02\/18\/explainer-why-would-world-leaders-balk-at-giving-putin-dna\/","title":{"rendered":"EXPLAINER: Why would world leaders balk at giving Putin DNA?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\n
<\/p>\n

\n

But this may be a case where imagination is getting a bit ahead of what science is actually capable of.<\/p>\n

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz refused to let Russia conduct a PCR test \u2014 while French officials said President Emmanuel Macron balked at some of the requirements to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin, leading to speculation he didn\u2019t want the Russian swab either.<\/p>\n

Neither leader is known for opposition to COVID-19 countermeasures, so speculation arose that they were trying to keep genetic material out of Russia\u2019s hands.<\/p>\n

In the high-stakes world of national security and international espionage, global powers are always looking for an edge, and increasingly those new fronts are less tangible than the battlefield.<\/p>\n

So gene science may one day be a useful addition to the arsenal, intelligence experts say. But scientists say that day might still be a long way away.<\/p>\n

Here’s a look at what may be \u2014 but probably isn’t \u2014 afoot:<\/p>\n

HAVE THE LEADERS ACTUALLY ACCUSED RUSSIA OF TRYING TO USE THEIR DNA FOR NEFARIOUS MEANS?<\/p>\n

Well, no. But that hasn\u2019t stopped the rampant speculation.<\/p>\n

French officials bristled at questions and dismissed any idea that the Russians were trying to secretly get Macron\u2019s DNA.<\/p>\n

A French official said Russia’s conditions for Macron to get close to Putin were \u201cnot acceptable\u201d and \u201cnot compatible\u201d with the French president\u2019s agenda. Hence: the absurdly long marble table that Macron and Scholz shared with the Russian president and which spawned many memes.<\/p>\n

German government spokesperson Steffen Hebestreit said he was \u201creluctant\u201d to comment after the Macron stir. But he told reporters in Berlin that Scholz followed the same procedure Germany applies to foreign dignitaries: They can submit their own PCR tests and, if there\u2019s any doubt, a doctor can come on board the plane to observe the testing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Russian side saw it differently and said: if there\u2019s a test it needs to be a Russian one. And the chancellor decided he wouldn\u2019t be available for that,\u201d said Hebestreit, adding: \u201cBut I wouldn\u2019t interpret too much into that.\u201d<\/p>\n

WHY WOULD FRANCE AND GERMANY HAVE REASON TO MISTRUST RUSSIA?<\/p>\n

Both countries are members of NATO, which also includes the United States and Britain. NATO was formed during the Cold War by Western allies as a bulwark against the Soviet Union.<\/p>\n

Russia has expressed concern that NATO is using Ukraine as a pawn to undermine Russia and has cited that as the reason for its military buildup along Ukraine’s borders.<\/p>\n

WHAT CAN YOU ACTUALLY LEARN FROM DNA?<\/p>\n

DNA is inside every cell in the body and could be extracted from multiple methods \u2014 like a nasal swab \u2014 even though a coronavirus test swab is after different genetic material: RNA from the virus.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose samples have tons of human DNA,\u201d said Kenny Beckman, who directs the University of Minnesota Genomics Center. \u201cYou could definitely take that sample, extract the DNA and do whatever kind of full workup you\u2019d want to do on that person.\u201d<\/p>\n

Your DNA has the instructions that you need to survive and grow. Every person\u2019s DNA is unique. It can be used to find where your ancestors might have come from, whether you have any unknown relatives floating in the ether, and also whether you have certain genetic diseases or genetic abnormalities associated with diseases or medical conditions.<\/p>\n

In forensic science, DNA can be used to physically connect someone to a piece of evidence or eliminate someone as a suspect in a crime.<\/p>\n

HOW COULD DNA BE USED AGAINST WORLD LEADERS?<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can use DNA to identify disease risk, so (the world leaders) might be at risk for a disease,\u201d said Howard McLeod, a genetics expert and director of precision medicine at the Florida-based Geriatric Oncology Consortium. \u201cYou could look and see if there could be some ancestry elements that could be exploited.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in general, he said, the idea of learning more about someone like a world leader through DNA probably \u201cseems a lot more scary than it is in reality.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beckman said it seemed \u201cfarfetched\u201d to think that the information gathered could be politically damaging.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are you going to do, say that Macron has a slightly higher risk of blood pressure?\u201d Beckman asked. \u201cBut then I don\u2019t spend a lot of time trying to dream up ways to weaponize someone\u2019s genetic information.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Annas, a bioethicist who has written extensively about the importance of genetic privacy, wants to make one thing clear: \u201cDNA is not magic. It\u2019ll give you some information, but it\u2019s not going to tell you how you can assassinate somebody.”<\/p>\n

But even without the capability to build an individually targeted bioweapon, the power of suggestion can be enough to compromise world leaders, and Russia has been known to employ kompromat \u2014 blackmailing someone by threatening to release embarrassing information about them.<\/p>\n

WHY CAN’T PUTIN AND HIS GUESTS JUST WEAR MASKS?<\/p>\n

Putin has largely eschewed masks throughout the pandemic \u2014 but is otherwise hypervigilant about COVID-19 measures. The 69-year-old appeared to work mostly remotely and was rarely seen in public before he was fully vaccinated with Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine (which still has not been approved by the European Union).<\/p>\n

DOES THE UNITED STATES INSIST ON TESTING WORLD LEADERS?<\/p>\n

When dignitaries visit U.S. President Joe Biden, they are required to be tested, according to an official. The White House makes itself available as a testing option, but most leaders arrange for their own, which the White House is fine with.<\/p>\n

When Biden himself is tested at home and abroad, samples are taken and processed exclusively by the White House Medical Unit.<\/p>\n

The U.S. government has allegedly dabbled in collecting the DNA of foreign leaders. Obama-era diplomatic cables revealed by Wikileaks instructed U.S. diplomats in select African countries to collect \u201cfingerprints, facial images, DNA, and iris scans\u201d from \u201ckey and emerging\u201d officials, including religious and business leaders.<\/p>\n

I AM A NORMAL PERSON WHO GETS COVID TESTS OFTEN. DO I HAVE ANYTHING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT?<\/p>\n

This shouldn’t deter you from testing.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., federal law bars medical providers and laboratories from using patient samples for any purpose other than the original test administered. In certain cases, people can consent to make their results available for research, as with health and ancestry services like 23andMe. Use caution with those services, though; even if tests comply with U.S. law, data can still end up in the hands of another country.<\/p>\n

Annas says the right to privacy is paramount, no matter who you are: \u201cEven presidents have the right to medical privacy, and they should not have their information disclosed to the public without their consent.\u201d<\/p>\n

SO DO WORLD LEADERS REALLY HAVE ANYTHING TO BE WORRIED ABOUT?<\/p>\n

The consensus is the most that a bad actor could do with DNA is generate scandal \u2014 not a presidential clone.<\/p>\n

But you never know where your DNA might end up: a few years ago, an anonymous group calling themselves the Earnest Project claimed to have grabbed DNA from a bunch of world leaders who attended the Davos summit. The group said they would put the samples up for auction as a statement about the perils of surveillance capitalism, but the auction was delayed because of legal concerns and seemingly never rescheduled. The group did not respond to a request for comment made through its website.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014<\/p>\n

Associated Press journalists Sylvie Corbet in Moscow and Paris, Dasha Litvinova in Moscow, Frank Jordans in Berlin, Laura Ungar in Louisville, Kentucky, and Matt Perrone and Zeke Miller in Washington contributed to this report.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n