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Surprising Science —

DNA Scandal

There has been outrage at the revelation that British police have garnered the world’s biggest DNA database without proper regulation or debate.
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“Britain has built the world’s biggest DNA database without proper political debate and police routinely arrest people just to get their DNA profiles onto the system, the genetics watchdog said in a report today. The Human Genetics Commission, which advises the Government on the social, legal and ethical aspects of genetics, called for a review of the database and said new laws must be passed to govern its use. In a damning report, the commission said ‘function creep’ had transformed the system from a DNA store for offenders into a database of suspects. More than three-quarters of young black men aged between 18 and 35 are on the system, the report said. Set up in 1995, the database contains the DNA profiles of five million citizens, 8 per cent of the population, making it the world’s biggest in proportion to population size.”

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