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DNA Database should be run by an independent authority
A new report from Human Genetics Commission has said that the police National DNA Database should be placed under the control of an independent statutory authority and there should be a nationwide information campaign to explain why DNA samples are taken, how they are used and why they are retained.
These are two of the key recommendations in the report published by an independent Citizens’ Inquiry instigated by the Human Genetics Commission (HGC) in collaboration with the ESRC Genomics Policy and Research Forum in Edinburgh and the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre (PEALS) in Durham and Newcastle. The majority of the funding for the project was provided by the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills’ Sciencewise Programme and the Wellcome Trust.
The Inquiry was conducted in Birmingham and Glasgow earlier this year with thirty people in two linked panels. They were able to call witnesses, take evidence and direct their own research over a six-week period.
Alice Maynard, chair of the working group set up by the HGC to commission the Inquiry, said: “We wanted to hear the public's views on the development of the national DNA database – now with more than four million people recorded on it – and, in particular, whether storing the DNA profiles of victims and suspects who are not charged or are subsequently acquitted is justified by the need to fight crime. We made a deliberate decision to recruit a diverse panel with a significant black and ethnic minority membership so that we could hear from a wide spectrum of people and especially those whose opinions are not often heard.
The Citizens’ report concludes that there is a need for the National DNA Database to be put on an independent statutory footing at one remove from Government and the Police. Most participants, although not all, felt that it would not be practical or desirable to have the whole population registered on the database, however.
Other majority recommendations included:
- People who are acquitted should have their names removed from the database.
- People providing DNA samples at police stations should have a clear explanation of why this is being done and what it means for them.
- There should be special arrangements for situations where DNA samples have to be taken by force.
- People providing samples should not have their ethnicity recorded.
- The release of the Citizens’ Inquiry’s conclusions marks the beginning of a new phase of information gathering and broader consultation for the HGC, which will all contribute to the development of a final report, to be published in early 2009.
The Inquiry was commissioned and managed by the HGC in partnership with the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills’ Sciencewise programme, the ESRC Genomics Forum and the Policy, Ethics and Life Sciences Research Centre (PEALS) and was also supported by funding from the Wellcome Trust. It was run by the Blackburn based research consultancy Vis-à-vis RC Ltd with a budget of £75,000.
