Should we object to DNA being taken?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.independen...heir-dna-1826437.html

Should anyone object to their DNA being taken and kept on record?

There are a multitude of personal information kept on record,

Birth certificate
Medical records.
Dental records
Car & Driving details
Home address
Occupants in one's home
Military records
Criminal records
Etc Etc

So why all the rumpus over DNA, is the real reason because it upsets certain groups, just as "stop and search" did?

[LoftyLottie]

Excellent post New Judge.

[Sqad]

New judge

I don't accept your opinion, but I do indeed respect it.

"Either everybody’s DNA should be taken at birth (neither practical nor desirable), "

I can understand why you think it is undesirable, but why do you think it is impractical?

As member of the "nothing hide brigade" I do appreciate that "civil liberties" do come into play, but we are, unfortunately, living in dangerous times where the innocent are at risk.

For me, releasing my "civil liberties" is a small price to pay for "presumed" safer environment.

[New Judge]

It is not practical, Sqad, because large numbers of people yet to be born elsewhere will eventually settle in the UK. So it is not practical to take the DNA of all residents and we will again end up with a database where some people are on it, and some are not. And then you are back to the discrimination issue.

Those convicted of crimes are protected by the Rehabilitation of Offenders Act which enables them to declare a “clean slate” when their convictions are spent. There is no such provision with the DNA issue and people are often disadvantaged for life without even having had a fair hearing.

Governments (and this one in particular) seem unable to determine what is reasonable, practical and proportional to tackle a perceived threat, and what is not so. They get themselves into all sorts of difficulties because they do not properly think through the consequences (or sometimes the legality) of their proposals. This time they have fallen foul of the European Court (and have prevaricated for over a year in which time more DNA has been taken and retained contrary to the ruling). The next process to come under the European Court’s scrutiny will almost certainly be the Independent Safeguarding Agency’s processes which effectively bar individuals from certain jobs and positions on the unchallenged say so of a civil servant.

[Sqad]

New Judge.

Your first paragraph........DNA all legal immigrants as well as neo-nates. Added bonus is that someone not on the database is an illegal immigrant.

Your second paragraph.....if everyone was DNA'd and on the register for life, there would be no need for the "clean slate act"

You third paragraph....I agree entirely.

[tamborine]

Take DNA at birth - record on medical notes; solves any objections.

[Oneeyedvic]

In recent memory, and a lot of people who would be considered knowledgable and intelligent (eg George Bernard Shaw, Alexander Graham Bell, Winston Churchill, HG Wells, Theodore Roosevelt) all considered Eugenics to be a danger to the modern world.

Several countries started sterilising people against their will - and in the UK a Private Members Bill was put before parliament to allow 'voluntary' sterilisation.

Now think what would happen if these countries had a DNA database.

Maybe we could euthanise people who were at risk from cancers or other diseases that cost the NHS money>
How about anyone who was at risk of being obese was also not allowed to live - after all, they are but a burden to society.

-----


And you trust goverments:

http://news.bbc.co.uk...a-pacific/8360150.stm

///The story of the British child migrants sent to Australia has been described as a history of lies, deceit, cruelty and official disinterest and neglect.////

http://www.mirror.co....ests-115875-20682678/

///Defence chiefs have finally admitted British servicemen WERE exposed to deadly radiation during nuclear tests in the 1950s.

After half a century of official denials, the Ministry of Defence have now confessed that staff were blasted with enough radioactivity to kill them.///

Still wouldn't happen today, would it!

Sorry, who mentioned Iraq?