Using people’s DNA for finding the suspect of a crime has long been into practice, and it has helped the police find a lot of criminals easily. While on the one hand, DNA testing can find the real criminals behind a scene, it can also help to clear an innocent person of the charges. However the concern strikes in when the same DNA profiles and data are all stored in a DNA database. This is a concerning matter because DNA and information can be used for threatening people’s privacy and damaging their rights and well as those of their families (DNA policy initiative). Moreover, the DNA samples taken for forensic purposes are never confirmedly told to the people that they could possibly be used for research purposes. The extent of using DNA stored in databases might be relevant until a criminal case is needed to be solved, however if it is used for other purposes which the person might not even be aware of, then it is unethical and harmful; not just for that one person but for the society as well.
It is not all bad for containing DNA and information in databases because, in the past, it has been seen that in oppressive regimes and rules, people have been saved many times from the tracking of their DNA. For example, in a place where there is a restriction on the freedom of speech, and the political rights of a person are suppressed then, the police can always cross their DNA samples from the scene and check if they were present over there or not (DNA policy initiative).
However in the past, the DNA samples recorded on paper have helped tyrannical rulers and regimes to track people and their ethnicities.
There is not just the DNA that matters in the databases; it is also another information which may cause trouble. For example, if a person’s DNA samples have been taken upon arrest and have been kept for an indefinite amount of time, then there is information present in the police records that can also be used for forensic laboratories which can be analyzed by them (Dranseika et al., 144). While the police record might use the DNA to track their access to a visa or suitability to get one and the potentiality of getting arrested or the like, the latter can be used to get access to other information like if the person carries any disorder or whether the sample is real or fake.
In democratic countries, there is the right to privacy whereby their information preserved in databases cannot be accessed and used without their knowledge; there is still a threat to the safety of the population when it comes to checking their DNA for carrying out sampling and tests such as checking for genetic disorders. About 4000 diseases have been marked as hereditary, and they have been discovered through this process (Guillen et al., 268).
Therefore, DNA information stored on databases can be harmful to society when misused or used without a person’s consent. This is not only unethical, but it is also dangerous as the person can be held liable to scrutiny in front of the law if their DNA is misused at any point. So storing it in databases is not in the best interests of society.
Work Cited
DNA policy initiative. DNA databases and human rights. 2014. Web. 8 May 2016.
http://dnapolicyinitiative.org/resources/dna-databases-and-human-rights/
Dranseika, Vilius, et al., Forensic uses of research biobanks; should donors be informed? NCBI.
141-146. 2016. Web. 8 May 2016.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4805715/
Guillen, Margarita, et al., Ethical problems of DNA databases in criminal investigations. Journal
of medical ethics. 266-271. 2006. Web. 8 May 2016.
http://jme.bmj.com/content/26/4/266.full
.
