Ethic's concerning DNA profiling

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Ethical concerns of developing a database of DNA profiles 

Genetic fingerprinting, more accurately known as DNA profiling, is the technique used to distinguish between individuals of the same species using only samples of their DNA.

This break through in science came about by the British geneticist (now Sir) Professor Alec Jefferey at the University of Leicester in 1984, after he noticed that two humans DNA sequences will be in majority, similar, but that there are certain sequences in DNA (called Minisatellites) that are repeated and do not contribute to the function of DNA [1 and 3].

The main role of DNA  is the long-term storage of  and the  instructions used in the  and functioning of all known . Each strand of DNA contains a sequence of bases called nucleotides, which are one of four chemicals: adenine, guanine, cytosine or thymine. As DNA has a double helix arrangement there are two anti-parallel chains, which are connected at each base. These bases only bond specifically with one other base. Adenine (A) will only bond to Thymine (T), and Guanine (G) will only bond to Cystosine (C) [2 and 4].

As there are many millions of base pairs in DNA, everyone’s sequence differs. But instead the scientist’s now compare differences in length of repetitive DNA sequences, known as  (SSR’s) and  (STR’s) [4] to distinguish between individuals. This method is usually an extremely reliable technique for identification of any person (or animal).

                Since 1985, DNA profiling of biological material has become one of the most powerful tools for personal identification in Forensic medicine and criminal investigation. The advantages of using DNA is that it provides a huge amount of diagnostic information compared to DNA fingerprinting (which can only identify individuals) and older techniques (such as blood group typing, because it is present in all biological tissues, and it is much more resistant to biological degradation than most other biological molecules e.g. proteins [1]    

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        Although DNA profiling has it’s advantages and has revolutionised science in general. There are many concerns surrounding the creation of a DNA Database.

The scientist who pioneered genetic fingerprinting (Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys) has voiced his concern about the DNA of innocent people being held by police saying that it “raises significant ethical and social issues.” [3]

It cannot be ethically right that the state holds such personal information of any individual. In the European human rights it states our right to privacy (defined as the freedom from observation or intrusion) [6]. The database is a clear invasion of ...

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