http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,2-86922,00.html
10:49��SUNDAY FEBRUARY 18 2001
Call to put all Britons on DNA database
The scientist who discovered genetic fingerprinting today called for the
entire population to be DNA tested in a bid to combat serious crime.
Professor Sir Alec Jeffreys, who devised the system to identify criminals
from the unique characteristics of their genes, said he had changed his mind
about the human rights implications of a universal DNA database.
"I think the potential of this database to prosecute serious crime, to save
the lives and the misery of future victims is very substantial.
"This is a proposal that requires very, very serious and careful thought,"
added Professor Jeffreys, 51, from the University of Leicester, who was
knighted for his work on DNA fingerprinting.
Between 700 and 800 samples from crime scenes are matched to a name from the
database each week.
The Government is spending �143 million to triple the size of the National
DNA Database, which already holds more than a million samples from suspects
who are charged, reported, cautioned or convicted for a recordable offence.
Samples taken from anyone eliminated from a criminal investigation must be
removed from the database and since 1995.
James Welch, legal director of human rights group Liberty, told the BBC that
the group strongly opposed a universal DNA database.
"This is very personal information over which ultimately you have no
control," he said.
"People are developing new uses of DNA material so, effectively, you are
asking people to give information about themselves when they don't know how
that information will be used in the future."
