18 Sept 2007 - DNA Ethical Issues

I attended a half day seminar on "Ethical Issues of a DNA Database". The Nuffield Council on Bioethics released their findings and proposals in the use of DNA . Police powers to take and retain DNA samples have been steadily widened by Acts of Parliament. Today police of England and Wales have wider sampling powers than those of any other country and has proportionally , per head of population, the largest DNA database in the world with 4M (6% of the population) samples.

The Council goals were: To identify and define ethical questions raised by recent advances in DNA research in order to respond to, and to anticipate, public concerns. To promote public understanding and discussions in respect to public safety and human rights. Those values which they are concerned are: liberty, autonomy, privacy, informed consent and equality.

Taking and retention of samples was a main part of the discussions. Government wants to basically have DNA samples of everyone and retain the forever. There are crime scene samples and individual samples and the council proposals were mainly directed at the individuals human rights.

It was a very interesting and eye opening event for me. It will interesting to find out what we (USA) are doing in this area of human rights.