DNA Sells! (But don't give people ideas)

Posted by Pete Shanks June 26, 2012
Biopolitical Times

A breathless article in London's Daily Mirror on Saturday launched a publicity coup that spread around the world:

Madonna appoints a DNA team to sterilise her dressing room after she's used it

The article implies that they also sterilize the room before she uses it. Her team is even reported to have added "fake ceilings and fake walls, so they can ensure that no one has hidden a camera somewhere."

Maybe there is a point to her paranoia. Remember Slacker? In the 1991 movie, a crazed young woman attempts to sell Madonna's pap smear and a pubic hair [video; the pitch starts at 1:55]. The director, Richard Linklater, never heard from Madonna, but told Salon in 2006 that "there were always great rumors going around."

When the new DNA story broke, there were those, including the prominent genomics lawyer Dan Vorhaus on Twitter, who saw the ominous possibilities:

If Madonna has a DNA sterilization team, I'd bet $ that Obama/Romney do as well.

Vorhaus links to a 2008 New England Journal of Medicine article by Robert Green and George Annas, on "The Genetic Privacy of Presidential Candidates." That is a serious issue, and one we have touched on here. But it's not exactly on point. Guess what Madonna's well-reviewed current album and tour are called.

MDNA

As in MaDoNnA. This talented artist has a flair for publicity, as you may have heard.

Previously on Biopolitical Times: