Ethical/Legal Issues |
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The main legal issues about DNA banking is that fact that people feel that they have no privacy for themselves.  In our DNA, our genetics and ancestral traits are present in them. Its our DNA for us, not for people to store. People do not like the idea of storing their DNA. People also use DNA for paternity tests to see who takes custody of a child. Overall, DNA is used to figure out crime suspects in a case and to distinguish who is guilt or not. An article says that "this information increases the potential for genetic discrimination by government, insurers, employers, schools, banks, and others”. So many turn to DNA for crimes, but forensics is busy with many other cases. Another legal issue is when other people are accused because their DNA are in the systems and are a somewhat match to the suspect. DNA that are found in crime scenes are analyzed to see if there is a match between the many thousands of other DNA that are stored. People fear that their DNA is a close or partial match, even when they are innocent. They do not like to be involved in cases that they have nothing to do with. Innocent people are jailed and sentenced for crimes they did not commit.  |
DNA contains all of our genetic information, such as sexual orientation, our proneness to disease, legitimacy of birth, etc. People are fine with fingerprinting because they are only used to identify people, while DNA is the person as a whole. When DNA is kept and stored, they are usually not destroyed and saved. People fear that their entire genome is available to the world and that it might be attained in the wrong hands, which contain everything to know about a person. Because our DNA is so important and crucial, our personal information being leaked to others is an invasion of our own privacy.  It says in an article that, “Practicality is a concern for DNA sampling and storage. An enormous backlog of over half a million DNA samples waits to be entered into the CODIS system. The statute of limitations has expired in many cases in which the evidence would have been useful for conviction”. The government is spending a lot of money on cases that are not even able to pass through. People feel that it is unfair also if they have no criminal record. People’s DNA also contains their information that people access without their full consent. This is unfair to the people and the law enforcers are taking this situation for granted. Overall, DNA it belongs to somebody and having it desecrated and stored makes someone feel that their privacy has been violated. People feel that the right to their liberties is taken away and there is nothing they can do about it because DNA data banking is a course enforced by the law and government. |
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