SaraX5
10-07-2005, 12:31 AM
I dont know if anyone else watches the Learning Channel, but the other day I was watching a show on there called " I am my own twin" which was mainly about people that have chimerism. Chimerism or people that are chimeras (meaning monster) basically have 2 sets of DNA.
The program was about two different mothers and how when each mother had DNA tests done with their children it came out that they were NOT their childrens mother. One of the mothers had to go to court and risk having her children taken away from her because the state thought that she had tried to use her sisters or someone elses children as her own for welfare aid. As it turns out in both cases, 2 different sets of DNA were gathered from some of the same areas of the body. In one place, 1 DNA might be dominant, whereas in another area, the other DNA is dominant. There was also a case of chimerism where one set of DNA was male & the other set was female. A baby was born w/ male internal reproductive parts of the right side of his body & female internal reproductive parts on the left side. What was also strange was that above his belly button, the right side had darker skin pigments whereas the left side had lighter skin pigments. The difference was so clear that it looked as if someone had drawn a line down the center of the babys chest. The reason that the 2 mothers didnt have the physical evidence of chimerism is because both sets of DNA were female & not half & half as the baby was. The scienists on the show were talking about how it is very rare to know or find out if someone is chimeric and everything is based on DNA so heavily these days that people with this condition who have commited crimes may go unpunished because the DNA doesnt match or vice versa. Also, how so many DNA tests are done to figure out who a childs father is where sometimes that childs father could come out negative on a DNA test because that person could be chimeric. Its scary how society and the legal systems rely so much on DNA testing and even that has flaws.
sorry i wrote so much but i just found this to be so fascinating and thought everyone else might think a little differently about DNA testing after this.
The program was about two different mothers and how when each mother had DNA tests done with their children it came out that they were NOT their childrens mother. One of the mothers had to go to court and risk having her children taken away from her because the state thought that she had tried to use her sisters or someone elses children as her own for welfare aid. As it turns out in both cases, 2 different sets of DNA were gathered from some of the same areas of the body. In one place, 1 DNA might be dominant, whereas in another area, the other DNA is dominant. There was also a case of chimerism where one set of DNA was male & the other set was female. A baby was born w/ male internal reproductive parts of the right side of his body & female internal reproductive parts on the left side. What was also strange was that above his belly button, the right side had darker skin pigments whereas the left side had lighter skin pigments. The difference was so clear that it looked as if someone had drawn a line down the center of the babys chest. The reason that the 2 mothers didnt have the physical evidence of chimerism is because both sets of DNA were female & not half & half as the baby was. The scienists on the show were talking about how it is very rare to know or find out if someone is chimeric and everything is based on DNA so heavily these days that people with this condition who have commited crimes may go unpunished because the DNA doesnt match or vice versa. Also, how so many DNA tests are done to figure out who a childs father is where sometimes that childs father could come out negative on a DNA test because that person could be chimeric. Its scary how society and the legal systems rely so much on DNA testing and even that has flaws.
sorry i wrote so much but i just found this to be so fascinating and thought everyone else might think a little differently about DNA testing after this.