Model Resolution For Indigenous Nations/Tribes
Calling for a Halt to The Genographic Project

WHEREAS, the Genographic Project is a five-year, $40 million project of the National Geographic Society, IBM Corporation, and Waitt Family Foundation launched on April 13, 2005 to collect, analyze and store 100,000 DNA samples of Indigenous peoples worldwide to study human origins and migrations, including in North America; and

WHEREAS, the Genographic Project also intends to analyze “ancient DNA” derived from the bodies of our deceased ancestors; and

WHEREAS, the Genographic Project also seeks to collect oral histories of Indigenous peoples to be compiled in the Genographic Database, which will be proprietary to National Geographic Society; and

WHEREAS, the Genographic Project plans to conduct research at 10 international research centers, which may impact up to 1,000 Indigenous nations worldwide, including an estimated 100 Indigenous nations in North America; and

WHEREAS, the Genographic Project has failed to initiate a process of formal consultations with the governments of the potentially affected Tribes in North America; and

WHEREAS, the University of Pennsylvania Social and Behavioral Sciences Institutional Review Board has approved the Genographic Project’s North America Protocol, giving the Genographic Project the authority to proceed in North America; and

WHEREAS, it is unethical to proceed with human population genetic research on Indigenous peoples where the risks to the subject population outweigh the benefits; and

WHEREAS, the blood of the ________ people is the collective inheritance of the ______ people, which is sacred and inalienable; and

WHEREAS, the _______ Nation/Tribe, by and through the _______ Council, has the inherent sovereign authority to regulate the conduct and activities on all lands within the jurisdiction of the Tribe and to protect the health and general welfare of the Tribe and its members; and

WHEREAS, federal law recognizes the ________Nation/Tribe’s authority to deny access to, refuse to participate in, or to authorize any removal of genetic materials from our peoples, or our territories; and

THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, THAT the _______Nation/Tribe calls upon the National Geographic Society to halt the Genographic Project and all its activities and aims; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT the _________ Nation/Tribe hereby prohibits activities related to the Genographic Project to be conducted on the _______ Reservation, including collection of blood samples and oral histories; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED THAT, we call upon or friends and allies to boycott the products and services of the National Geographic Society, the IBM Corporation, and Gateway Computer until the Genographic Project is halted.