CDR: hawking DNA as unique IDs
A. Melon
juicy at melontraffickers.com
Tue Sep 12 08:53:26 PDT 2000
Latest Use for Ones DNA --
Thwarting Counterfeiters
Carolyn Said, Chronicle Staff Writer
Monday, September 11,
2000
Syd the platypus, Millie the echidna
and Olly the kookaburra have a secret
weapon to foil counterfeiting crooks.
The furry mascots of the 2000 Summer
Olympics in Sydney -- as well as an
avalanche of caps, T-shirts, mugs, pins
and other official Olympics
merchandise -- are being tagged with
invisible ink containing DNA strands
from an unidentified Australian athlete.
The goal is to thwart increasingly
sophisticated forgers trying to get a
piece of the $389 million market for
Olympics keepsakes.
High-quality infringements have
increased during the past couple of
months leading up to the games, said
Catherine McGill, legal counsel and
brand protection manager for the
Sydney Organizing Committee for the
Olympic Games. Detail-oriented
counterfeiters copy the swing tags,
sewn-in labels and packaging. That is
where the DNA comes into its own as
being the absolutely foolproof, sure
way to determine if something is fake.
Other ways to combat counterfeiting,
such as holograms, can be duplicated
by determined bootleggers.
The DNA-laced ink is being applied to
most of the 3,500 official souvenirs --
some 50 million individual items. Its
the largest deployment ever of DNA as
a security device.
McGill oversees a team of 60
logocops equipped with special
scanners that can detect the DNA ink.
The logocops will roam Sydney and
other Australian cities,
pouncing on street vendors and retail
outlets to determine whether their
merchandise is authentic. Australian
customs officials have already seized
more than 120,000 phony Olympics
souvenirs worth millions of dollars that
were being sent into the country from
overseas, largely from Asia, she said.
DNA Technologies of Los Angeles is
the company behind the initiative,
which reportedly costs about 5 cents
per item.
Chris Outwater, president of DNA
Technologies, said the process
involves extracting DNA from a blood
sample, taking a fraction of it, then
amplifying it and adding a small
amount to the invisible ink. Some junk
DNA is also thrown into the mix as a
red herring, he said.
Theres no way someone could take (a
sample tag) and reproduce the mark,
he said. Imagine standing outside the
New York City Public Library and
challenging a counterfeiter: Im using
one sentence from one book inside that
library you find that sentence. Thats
how daunting it would be for someone
to figure out what the code is.
Using DNA, the unique biological
signature of each human, for such a
commercial purpose signifies how
society has come to view DNA as a
magic potion, said Susan Lindee,
co-author of The DNA Mystique: The
Gene as a Cultural Icon, a 1995 book.
Its the commercialization of the
genome to the most ridiculous degree,
she said. Promoters have been
successful at weaving into popular
culture the idea that DNA is the
ultimate arbiter of whats true,
authentic, real.
She challenged Outwaters assertion
that a DNA security code would be
counterfeit-proof. Most people dont
have that kind of technical expertise,
but if theyre only using a sequence
there are plenty of individuals who
could be hired (to duplicate it), she
said. If it became truly profitable --
lets say all designer clothing were
tagged with DNA -- thered be
somebody who had a financial stake in
figuring out how to copy the DNA and
fake it.
Outwater said some well-known
designer brands have adopted the
technology on sewn-in labels, but
prefer not to publicize it. He hopes to
extend the technology to such areas as
pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, and to
secure documents and financial
instruments, including passports,
currency and ID cards.
A reliable, duplication-proof means of
authenticating goods is sorely needed.
Counterfeit goods in the United States
amount to some $200 billion a year.
Fine arts and sports collectibles are
areas where authentication is crucial.
Artist Thomas Kinkade incorporates
some of his own DNA into the
signatures inked on his artwork.
PSA/DNA Authentication Services of
Newport Beach (Orange County)
licenses the DNA Technologies
product to authenticate sports
memorabilia and autographs. After
starting with Mark McGwires
record-setting 70th home-run ball, it
next tagged Hank Aarons 715th
home-run ball and bat, and now
broadly uses the technology.
Major League Baseball asked us to
authenticate all the game balls used
during the World Series, said Jason
Meyerson, PSA/DNA president. We
can apply the DNA onto the surface of
any collectible with a custom-made
felt-tip pen.
The company will provide
representatives to stand next to Joe
Montana as he signs autographs and
mark each one with the invisible DNA
ink, Meyerson said. Whats beautiful
about it is that its permanent,
nontransferable and invisible.
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