Testing DNA to reunite families brings social, ethical problems, say experts

washington — The Trump administration’s use of DNA testing to match migrant children separated from their parents is justifiable as a last resort, medical experts say, but raises a host of ethical problems.

That includes the risk of damaging the family fabric by revealing that an adult thought to be the biological parent really is not.

A federal judge in California on Tuesday said DNA testing should be

limited to cases in which the parentchild relationship can’t be established through documents such as birth certificates and passports.

The government had argued that DNA testing is faster than authenticating documents, and protects children — especially the youngest — from being handed to someone who may not be their biological parent.

Officials said testing on 102 migrant children under 5 years old

revealed five cases in which adults claiming to be the parent actually were not, including two in which the results came as a surprise to the adults.

Ethicists say that’s just one situation where problems arise.

DNA testing “is one of the few tools to fix this miserable mess,” said Arthur Caplan, head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine.

Reuters Walter Armando Jimenez Melendez, an asylum seeker from El Salvador, arrives with his four year-old son Jeremy at la Posada Providencia shelter in San Benito, Texas, shortly after he said they were reunited following separation since late May. —