Native Americans pulled together to test DNA

The Chukchansi Indian Tribe Council in California (USA) will vote on how to apply DNA testing to determine if a certain member is a relative of a tribe. .

In recent times, some American Indian tribes have used DNA tests to resolve conflicts between internal members.

If the Chukchansi tribe council votes in favor, they will have to revise their own rules requiring all future members to undergo this test. The cost of a test case will cost about 400 USD.

American Indians use DNA testing to resolve internal disputes.

For years, the tribe has argued fiercely about the rapid increase in the number of members from 30 in the early 1980s to over 1,000 in 2003 - the moment they decided to stop collecting new member.

Most recently, on the land of this tribe recently, the resort of Chukchansi Gold and a casino have been raised. They bring significant profits. Of course, all tribal members will benefit from the thriving business.

Tribal leaders suspect that many outsiders have taken advantage of preferential policies for members to ' mix ' into the tribe to earn money. In order to distinguish reality from this incident, they decided to organize DNA testing to ' purify ' tribal members.

' Since we built the casino a few years ago, suddenly the number of members increased dramatically. We agreed that DNA testing would be the best way to determine who qualifies as a member of the tribe , 'tribal leader Reggie Lewis expressed annoyance.

However, critics say the plan will undermine the cultural values ​​created over the centuries. According to Professor Kimberly TallBear of the University of California, Berkeley, " DNA testing will make the concept of traditional tribes no longer clear ."

In response to these concerns, Chukchansi tribal leader Jennifer Stanley said, ' We knew from the beginning that this problem could give rise to some emotional problems among tribal families but ultimately, DNA testing will help unite the tribe into a solidarity of members who know their common ancestors '.