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Trump’s DNA Is Reportedly For Sale. Here’s What Someone Could Do With It.

An anonymous group claims it took DNA from global elites — and is auctioning it off

Emily Mullin
OneZero
7 min readFeb 14, 2020

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Images: EARNE$T

If you had Donald Trump’s DNA, what would you do with it?

The idea isn’t as outlandish as it may seem: An anonymous organization called the Earnest Project is offering the chance to own DNA samples of a handful of world leaders and celebrities. The group claims it has surreptitiously collected items discarded by attendees of the 2018 World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that may contain their DNA. President Trump, French President Emmanuel Macron, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Elton John all attended the conference.

The group has compiled these artifacts — napkins, paper coffee cups, a glass parfait jar, cigarette butts, and other items — in an online catalog it calls the “Davos Collection.” Each has an estimated dollar value: A strand of human hair is listed at $1,200 to $3,000. A used breakfast fork has an estimated worth up to $36,500. And a wine glass is valued at up to $65,000. None of the items are identified with names, but it’s assumed they come from the leaders or celebrities at the forum.

The Earnest Project is planning to auction off the items to raise awareness about “surveillance…

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OneZero
OneZero

Published in OneZero

OneZero is a former publication from Medium about the impact of technology on people and the future. Currently inactive and not taking submissions.

Emily Mullin
Emily Mullin

Written by Emily Mullin

Former staff writer at Medium, where I covered biotech, genetics, and Covid-19 for OneZero, Future Human, Elemental, and the Coronavirus Blog.

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