BBC News report - DNA tests sought 'for every Briton'

["Brian Morrison" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>]

Every single person in the UK should be compelled to have their DNA on
the national database in an effort to prevent crime, a senior police
officer has argued.
 
Currently about two million people who have been charged with criminal
offences have their DNA profiles on the national database. 

But Kevin Morris, chairman of the Police Superintendents Association,
told the Times newspaper opposition to extending the scheme to every
man, woman and child was overstated. 

The association will call this week for the extension as a tool to
revolutionise the fight against crime and solve hundreds of murders. 

Civil liberties campaigners have always opposed the suggestion, arguing
it is intrusive to make such demands of people who have done nothing
wrong. 

Campaigners also fear that data could eventually be used by insurers
looking for genetic predispositions towards certain serious illnesses. 

They also argue that any such move would make all people feel like
suspects. 

But Mr Morris told the newspaper: "If we have a compulsory database to
which every citizen is expected to donate their DNA as a responsibility
within our society, I fervently believe we will not only detect crimes
quicker but we will help prevent them in the first place. 

"With estimates suggesting that there are as many as 600 people in the
UK who have committed murder but who escaped initial detection, the
question has got to be asked why we can't do more. 

"Experience has shown that the general public come forward in their
thousands when they believe their sample will help police to detect a
serious crime." 

Mr Morris told the newspaper people would be more worried about abuses
of the DNA by commercial companies than about being seen as suspects. 

Article is here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/low/uk/3088920.stm


-- 
Brian Morrison                                       [EMAIL PROTECTED]
              do you know how far this has gone?
               just how damaged have I become?
                                      'Even Deeper' by Nine Inch Nails