Egg donation, sperm donation and surrogacy – assisted reproduction technologies have made it easier than ever to have a baby but created an ethical and identity minefield.

From finding sperm on Facebook, to finding out you might have 700 siblings, Secrets We Keep: By Any Means examines the multibillion-dollar fertility industry that fills wombs.

Journalist Amelia Oberhardt speaks with parents, adult children and clinicians about the ‘wild west’ of the modern fertility landscape, confronting complex questions about consent, identity and human rights. 

Only available on LiSTNR. Download the app and listen for free: https://play.listnr.com/podcast/secrets-we-keep

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Claire discovers how the Australian Federal Police are embracing FIGG, but with no regulation to safeguard against the privacy concerns which come with increased genetic surveillance. And in the final episode of Should I Spit?, the true market value of DNA databases is revealed and we find out how the personal information amassed by companies like Ancestry is being facilitated by Australia’s National Archives. The Angie Dodge murder is finally solved but a final tragic twist shocks everyone involved.

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Claire meets the scientist responsible for the original DNA family history project Michael’s father donated to. He’s a well-known archaeo-geneticist who was attempting to build a DNA family tree of the whole world, with the hope it would bring world peace. This ambitious plan was funded by a Mormon billionaire.

A celebrity genetic detective takes on the Angie Dodge case and finds that a distant relative of Michael’s was responsible for the murder. Claire discovers in this episode of ShouldI Spit? exactly how science and intelligence combine in the powerful new investigative technique of Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy.

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Claire learns the details about the original study which took the DNA samples from Michael’s father; from its religious origins to how the data eventually became part of Ancestry’s database. The police have another investigative lead to Angie’s killer, an image created purely from the DNA taken from the crime scene. Detectives show it to Michael’s family, convinced the killer lurks somewhere in his family tree.

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Although Michael is no longer a murder suspect, his male cousins are scrutinised. The Idaho Falls police are trialing a new technology which predicts someone’s physical appearance based on DNA samples. Michael’s sceptical about the science and fears the police are searching deeper in his family to find Angie’s killer. Episode 6 of Should I Spit? reveals forensic genetic genealogy is enthusiastically embraced by the Australian police with no new privacy legislation and little public scrutiny. 

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A man called Chris Tapp has been in prison for 20 years for the death of Angie, but his DNA was never found at the crime scene. For Angie’s mother, Carol it doesn’t make sense, and she goes from initially calling for this man’s execution to being his greatest advocate. Carol then pushes the police to use a new technique of forensic genealogy. However, fears this new technique threaten both people’s right to privacy and their presumption of innocence begin to surface.

Meanwhile, Claire discovers that Australia started its own criminal DNA database following a mass DNA screening operation in rural New South Wales.

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Claire attends RootsTech, the world’s largest family history conference to learn why genealogy is such a popular hobby. There, Claire learns how the LDS Church and Ancestry have amassed billions of records worldwide and turned the mapping of family trees into a multi-billion dollar industry.  Meanwhile, Michael continues to investigate how he’s been caught up in the Angie Dodge investigation, so he travels to Idaho Falls to meet Angie’s mother, Carol. 

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In this episode of Should I spit?, Claire discovers how the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is inextricably linked with the history of genetics and genealogy, through the church’s doctrines and rituals. Michael is shocked to learn that he was identified through a blood sample his father donated at his local church.  Michael’s DNA doesn’t match and is cleared by police, however, he is shaken and wants answers. He can’t understand how the police linked him and his family to Angie’s murder. Michael is approached by a journalist who discovers the Idaho Falls Police had quietly been using a new forensic identification technique called Familial Searching. Using this method, police found Michael based on DNA information stored in a publicly-available genealogy database owned by Ancestry.com.

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While working on a cybersecurity podcast, journalist Claire Aird reads a startling statistic: Ninety per cent of people with European ancestry in the US are identifiable because of DNA data their relatives have uploaded to a family history database. Claire’s curiosity soon becomes an investigation into how our DNA is being used for power and profit. In this episode of Should I Spit?, Claire finds out that the DNA data on genealogy sites is never fully anonymous, so she starts to interrogate how police really use these sites to hunt for criminals, overseas and in Australia.

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DNA is the blueprint for life. While police call it the ‘gold standard’ for forensic identification, transnational corporations see dollar signs. Investigative journalist Claire Aird brings the untold story of how your DNA data can land you in a murder investigation, and how this same data is amassed for power and profit. Should I Spit? is the origin story of the multibillion dollar consumer DNA industry. From police hoping to solve cold murder cases, to one of the most powerful churches in the world, everyone seems to want a piece of what makes you, you. 

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