Identifying 9/11 Remains With DNA Technology

Amy Westfeldt,

New DNA technology developed by a Virginia laboratory to help identify years-old remains of Sept. 11 victims is working for all but the smallest slivers of bones, a scientist says.

But identifying a Sept. 11 victim still takes weeks of painstaking review and often depends on factors like the quality of DNA samples originally provided by families from items like toothbrushes, a city spokeswoman said Saturday.

"The last thing we want to do is submit an ID to someone and have it not turn out to be an ID," said Ellen Borakove, spokeswoman for the city medical examiner's office.

The city announced earlier this week that remains of five victims, including a city firefighter, had been identified.

But more than 1,100 victims still do not have identifiable remains.

Last fall, Chief Medical Examiner Charles Hirsch told victims' families that a new procedure for extracting DNA from remains would likely lead to new identifications.

That procedure, which extracts calcium from bone over a period of about a week, has yielded purer DNA samples than previous tests of bones badly damaged by extreme heat and time, said Mike Cariola, vice president for forensic operations at Lorton, Va.-based Bode Technology Group.

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