New DNA technique will speed up chemical compensation claims

A new DNA technique developed by scientists in the U.S. may help prove if people have had their health damaged by exposure to chemicals.

The new test invented by Dr. Bruce Gillis at the University of Illinois uses samples of DNA taken from a healthy person and exposes it to chemicals to see which genes are affected; this is then compared to the claimants' DNA and an analysis then shows the effect of chemicals.

More than 3,000 people a year die from asbestos-related diseases in the UK; in the U.S. also thousands of deaths each year are thought to be due to asbestos exposure.

According to Dr. Gillis the technique, named msds1, uses commercially available DNA micro-arrays to work out which of thousands of genes are affected by exposure to a certain chemical.

It could be an invaluable method of speeding up cases for compensation which all too often drag on for years and has already been used in more than 20 cases that used evidence from the technique in civil courts in California.

The test enables the specific pattern of changes to DNA triggered by exposure to a chemical to be read and the resulting unique DNA "fingerprint" can then be compared to samples taken from those making the claims.

Dr. Gillis says the test had proven for claimants and also against them.

The technique is expected to transform the quality of evidence in civil cases and could dramatically reduce the time it takes to settle such cases where miners, industrial workers and others seek compensation for illnesses caused by exposure to asbestos, coal dust or other environmental toxins.

Claims for diseases caused by asbestos continue to rise and are not expected to peak until at least 2010.