Medical ethics group looks to guide researchers studying remains of historical dead

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.... group from Chicago is drawing up what may be the first set of ethical

guidelines for biohistorical analysis. It will address, among other things,

whether scientists should be allowed to test the remains of historical

figures only after getting the consent of their descendants.

Most of the time, these tests are done on famous folks. Researchers have

probed Einstein's brain to see why he was so smart and tested strands of

Beethoven's hair, preserved at San State University, to see if he

suffered from lead poisoning. Locks from the likes of Napoleon, Elvis

Presley and Marilyn Monroe are in the hands of private collectors and

available for testing, for a price...

Some of these investigations are invasive, involving digging up the dead or

releasing private medical information, the group wrote in Friday's issue of

the journal Science. Some are of dubious value to science or society; a few

are blatantly commercial.

And these studies carry the potential for damage to the living: If an

analysis shows one of your ancestors suffered from a genetic problem, could

you lose your job or health insurance?

.... The group, which includes scientists, historians and lawyers

specializing in bioethics, formed three years ago at the request of the

Chicago Historical Society, which owns artifacts related to the

assassination of President Lincoln: the bed he died in, the blood-stained

sheets that purportedly were on that bed and the cloak his wife wore that

night, which also appears spattered with blood.

A number of people have proposed analyzing the bloodstains. Some want to see

if Lincoln had a genetic condition known as Marfan's syndrome. Others wonder

if they are somehow related to the president. ...