CHM Live | NOVA 'Secrets in Our DNA' Screening and Panel Discussion

[Recorded January 19, 2021]
Some 30 million people have sent their DNA to be analyzed by companies like 23andMe and AncestryDNA, hoping to obtain clues to family origins and forecasts of their future health. Some users have found family members and discovered lurking genetic risks. But what happens once the sample is in the hands of testing companies? What are they looking at and how accurate are their results? What is the promise and peril of personal DNA?

NOVA explores the power of this information and the unintended consequences that can arise from sharing our data with these rapidly growing online databases. DNA results that offer estimates of health risks can be misleading, and the discovery of intimate family secrets can tear relationships apart. Meanwhile, law enforcement is increasingly turning to the DNA-sharing website GEDmatch as an extraordinarily powerful tool for cracking cold cases, as demonstrated by the 2018 arrest of California’s notorious Golden State Killer after 42 years at large. NOVA Secrets in our DNA—produced by Menlo Park, California-based Kikim Media—premieres Wednesday, January 13, 2021 at 9 p.m. ET / 8C on PBS.

Panelists:
Robert C. Green (Professor of Medicine Genetics, Harvard Medical School)
Jacquie Haggarty (Vice President, Deputy General Counsel and Privacy Officer)
Fatimah Jackson (Professor of Biology Director of Cobb Research Laboratory Howard University)
Erin Murphy (Professor of Law, NYU)

Moderator:
Talithia Williams (Professor of Mathematics, Harvey Mudd and Co-Host, PBS Series NOVA Wonders)

Catalog Number: 102792140
Lot Number: X9413.2021