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I think it would be a good idea to register everyone's dna at birth.

(37 Posts)
MaryTheBookeeper Wed 05-Aug-20 20:10:36

I'm sure I'm going to get clobbered here. I've been watching a crime show & so often it comes down to proving a case with dna. Or old cases are finally getting solved because a match is made somewhere. Every baby is born innocent, surely it wouldn't hurt to have a dna database, a sample being registered at birth? Imagine how many crimes could be solved quickly. What do you think?

harrigran Sun 09-Aug-20 10:01:47

I would not have a problem with stored DNA, but I have nothing to hide.
We could sort a lot of problems by having access to this stored information. I am also very much in favour of ID cards.

trisher Sun 09-Aug-20 10:14:42

No way! Apart from the family disruptions this could cause about who was the child's father (when scientists were researching Huntingdon's Disease which is inherited it kept turning up in families where it shouldn't have been), there is also the possibility of life limiting illnesses causing difficulties in adult life. Then there's security, who would ensure this? It's a complete minefield.

Antonia Sun 09-Aug-20 10:17:10

Many Jews managed to flee Nazi Germany during the war. What if the authorities had had everyone's DNA on record? Many innocent people would have lost their lives.

Callistemon Sun 09-Aug-20 10:19:09

I have nothing to hide

People sometimes do have something to hide for good reasons. They are not criminals.

I am probably in favour of ID cards but taking the DNA of a newborn baby? Storing everyone's DNA on a huge national database which could be open to misuse? Absolutely not.

Mapleleaf Sun 09-Aug-20 10:26:01

No, a step too far, I think.

timetogo2016 Sun 09-Aug-20 10:26:05

I too think it`s a good idea,have thought so for many ,and finger prints from birth as i have been told they don`t change.

trisher Sun 09-Aug-20 10:33:06

I wonder how long it would take before someone in the criminal community thought of taking things with someone's DNA on them to a crime location and leaving it for the police to find? In fact it could be happening now, only most of us wouldn't be identifiable.

Callistemon Sun 09-Aug-20 10:36:55

It is a wonderful tool in the solving of crime and, in fact, in eliminating suspects, but it's not infallible.

MaizieD Sun 09-Aug-20 10:48:28

Spangler

The quote: "If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear," came from one, Joseph Goebbels. The right to privacy is enshrined in law and the way rights work is, the government has to justify its intrusion into your rights.

Once the genie is out of the bottle.....................

Apparently the saying is earlier than Goebbels; it was noted in the early 20th C

english.stackexchange.com/questions/217196/origin-of-you-have-nothing-to-fear-if-you-have-nothing-to-hide

But the fact that Goebbels used it is indicative of its danger.

I am utterly opposed to the idea of a database of everyone's DNA for all the reasons already stated.

I suggest that people think a bit more deeply about the implications before enthusiastically endorsing it.

Spangler Sun 09-Aug-20 17:42:31

Callistemon

It is a wonderful tool in the solving of crime and, in fact, in eliminating suspects, but it's not infallible.

That's exactly it Callistemon, it's certainly not infallible. There's a criminal DNA database, just like fingerprints before it, if you have been convicted of a felony, then your DNA will go on that database, deservedly so. But for those of us who have a moral compass, who respect the law, then our privacy is sacrosanct.

Callistemon Sun 09-Aug-20 21:20:09

If anyone wants to know more, look up articles and books by Professor Peter Gill.