Major league baseball involved in DNA testing

A number of players in the Major Legal Baseball in the United States are being asked to provide samples for genetic testing to help clubs confirm their age and identity. It has been reported that some players from Latin America have provided false details regarding their age to secure lucrative baseball contracts and clubs have turned to DNA testing in an effort to combat the problem. But the tactic has been criticised by some bioethics commentators as posing a potential risk to liberty and improper use of genetic material.

The New York Times last week reported on the case of Miguel Sano, a young promising baseball player from the Dominican Republic hoping to sign with a major baseball club, who was asked to provide bodily samples to Major League Baseball investigators. They were not only looking to check if he was using performance enhancing drugs but also wanted to confirm that he was in fact 16, as he claimed. Sano, who did not object to the tests, told reporters that, ‘I did everything they asked me to do so they would have no doubts about my age.’

In a statement issued by the Major League it admitted to testing the DNA of potential players from the Dominican Republic in ‘very rare instances’. It said that it was only done to tackle an identity fraud problem the league presently is facing. Scientific American has reported that earlier this year Esmailyn Gonzalez, who signed with the Washington Nationals in 2006, gaining a bonus worth over $1 million, turned out not to be 19 as he claimed but 23 years old — as well as going by the name of Carlos David Alvarez Lugo. Over 300 players from both major and minor baseball leagues have been found to have used false ages, say Baseball America.

Some commentators are concerned about how such information can be used, however, as DNA results could be used to predict players’ future health problems. It is also unclear whether such testing falls within the United State’s genetic non-discrimination laws. The Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (GINA) passed last year will prohibit US companies from asking employees to undergo DNA testing. ‘DNA contains a host of information about risks for future diseases that prospective employers might be interested in discovering and considering,’ said Kathy Hudson, Director of the Genetics and Public Policy Centre. ‘The point of GINA was to remove the temptation and prohibit employers from asking or receiving genetic information,’ she explained. It is not clear how, once in force, GINA will affect the testing of prospective baseball players who are not US citizens or who undergo testing abroad.

Abuses of genetic information have been documented in the United States. Jeremy Gruber, President of the Council for Responsible Genetics, spoke of a case a few years ago where a railway company used workers’ blood samples to test for predisposition to carpal tunnel syndrome. ‘There are many instances where employers have acquired information for one reason and used it for another,’ he said. ‘Dominicans who want to come to the United States and play baseball are particularly going to be susceptible to the privacy and discrimination issues as a means to escape being poor.’

Yet William Thompson, professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, said that testing players to confirm their identity was legitimate. ‘Genetic testing is troubling because it kind of gives employers a chance to look into the future and to use that to discriminate against people,’ he said, but added that this particular type of testing does not fall under the ‘traditional category of genetic discrimination’ concerned with predicting medical problems. Sano’s agent, Rob Plummer, admitted that some players are being forced to undergo DNA testing but defended the practice saying: ‘Based upon the number of frauds of identity, at least until there’s a system in the Dominican where identities are 100 percent foolproof, it’s necessary.’

The results of the genetic tests performed on Sano have not yet been made public. It is expected that Sano can expect offers of over $3 million to sign with major clubs if the tests confirm he is telling the truth about his age.