Application of Stable Isotope Techniques in Individual Provenance

Individual identification is one of the important tasks in response to natural disasters, air crashes, explosion accidents, fire disasters, traffic accidents and other incidents (cases). Fingerprint identification, DNA analysis, tooth recognition and other technologies play a major role in the confirmation of individual identity. These methods are difficult to work when it is impossible to obtain the fingerprint, DNA and other informations of the deceased in databases. Therefore, the use of new analytical techniques for individual provenance and identification has become one of the important topics in forensic science. Stable isotope technology is widely used in traceability based on the differences of stable isotope distribution. Some studies show that the stable isotope composition of human tissues is closely related to food and water consumed by individuals during their growth. There are regional characteristics in stable isotope composition of animals, plants and water, and people living in different regions have different agricultural customs and eating habits. These differences could be reflected in the stable isotopic composition of human tissues through diet, drinking water, etc. Through stable isotope analysis of multiple elements (C, N, O, H, S) in various body tissues (such as hair, nails, teeth and bones), the birthplace, living areas and eating habits of individuals can be inferred, which could provide important clues for the confirmation of individual identity. The principle of stable isotope technology is briefly introduced, the types of elements used for individual provenance and the information characteristics contained in stable isotopes in different human tissues are systematically expounded, the current research and application is summarized, the existing problems are analyzed and the future development of stable isotope technology in individual provenance is prospected in this paper.