Why Not Save a Hair?
Excerpt from “Why Knot?” Buy the book at Amazon
In TV mystery shows that focus on crime and forensic evidence, medical examiners sometimes exhume bodies to verify the identity of the deceased. Sometimes their efforts at identification are stymied by the fact that the body was cremated.
Why not take a hair from everyone who dies, and securely store that hair in case the need ever arises to test the DNA? That’s a simple, non-invasive procedure that could obviate the need for costly and emotion-wrenching exhumation. As for privacy concerns, the person is dead. And the DNA test is only performed if ordered by a judge when there’s reasonable cause.
Objections? Perhaps some would see this as a first step toward a national identity system based on DNA tests performed on newborns. But would that be bad?
