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Research In Native American Communities In The Genetics Age: Can The Federal Data Sharing Statute Of General Applicability And Tribal Control Of Research Be Reconciled?, Ron J. Whitener

Ron J. Whitener

Since colonization, the populations indigenous to the United States of America have been an enticing subject for researchers of all types. Geographic continuity with traditional homelands and traceable blood quantum requirements for tribal membership provide a unique connection to the past for researchers studying a broad array of topics from epidemiology to religion. In recent years, the explosion of discoveries in the field of genomic research has led to even greater interest in the United States’ Native communities by both commercial and scientific interests. Firms have sprung up offering genetic tests claiming the ability to detect Native American Ancestry. National …