DNA Yea or Nay? - Page 6

Gayle · 07-09-2007, 08:38

On a very simplistic level it does seem like a good idea. Take everyone's DNA at birth, check if they're prone to any sorts of illnesses, take preventative measures or use it to track down criminals.

However, on a day to day basis there are too many variables about it - like the insurance risks and the risk of getting the wrong person for a crime. The trouble is as well that it won't take long before DNA is said to be 100% perfect way so that no one will have any recourse if they believe that DNA has been wrong. Haven't there already been cases when men have been identified as being a father of a child and they dispute it and it's proven that the DNA testing was inconclusive or the other way around.

panther · 07-09-2007, 08:57

i think its a good idea

, if ya got nowt to hide ya got nowt to fear

WillowTheWhisp · 07-09-2007, 10:44

Fingerprints were supposed to be foolproof once but it's been proved that finger prints can be planted. I'm sure DNA could be planted too by someone crafty enough.

garinda · 07-09-2007, 11:00

The solving of 64 old crimes is enough for me...

BBC NEWS | UK | Old crimes solved after DNA blitz

and that was four years ago, it's probably a lot more now, of people who wouldn't have been brought to justice.

cashman · 07-09-2007, 11:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

Fingerprints were supposed to be foolproof once but it's been proved that finger prints can be planted. I'm sure DNA could be planted too by someone crafty enough.

yeh they can, police also occasionally tell lies in court or omit things that may harm their case. so what are we saying? stop using fingerprints as evidence they may have been planted. its the best system we got n if that can be improved then good,there as always been miscarriges of justice for various reasons, most thankfully are not. and while any system anywhere has the human element it will always be open to abuse,if we didn't have the justice system we would have Anarchy.

jambutty · 07-09-2007, 12:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

Once upon a time a European government gathered in all the details possible of its citizens and stored them on a huge paper database. This was in the days before computers.

Then they started to exterminate certain groups of people or put them to work in slave camps to rid the nation of ‘impure’ citizens. No one outside the country and even the vast majority in the country knew anything about what was happening.

The world found out when the NAZIS were defeated.

Now tell me that a DNA database of every person in the UK is not dangerous.

Could it happen to day? Who knows but we are already being ruled by the Commissionaires, the un-elected Commissionaires, in Brussels. These same people who overrule what MEP’s want when it doesn’t suit their own plan. No one gave Hitler a real chance of becoming the German Chancellor.

We, the working classes, are already being held down by the aristocracy and upper class.

As I keep pointing out, be careful what you wish for today because your desire will affect your children and those who come after more than it will affect you.

What! Is no one going to argue about the above?

Or does it destroy once and for all the “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear” myth?

cashman · 07-09-2007, 13:03

scotland yard have a fingerprint data base for criminals and have had for many years, nobody seems to complain about that. government could go down the road you suggest a bit with that.i think your arguement is fact so cannot be argued, but i also think its scaremongering,if we took on board everything that could hypothetically happen/ happen again,we would never go forward.

Margaret Pilkington · 07-09-2007, 13:14

I have nothing to hide either, but that doesn't mean that i am not fearful of this information being used for the wrong reasons and /or for financial gain.

And if DNA were so almighty then 64 cases of solved crime isn't so hot....Not for me, i will take a lot more convincing that this is what the government want to use the DNA for.
They play on the fears people have about rising crime, but yet they do precious little to make sure that true criminals are faced with an adequate deterrent.
The time of the country's police force is taken up in completeing red tape and paperwork, instead of having a visible police presence in the hot spots, and Zero tolerance for crime.

jambutty · 07-09-2007, 13:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

scotland yard have a fingerprint data base for criminals and have had for many years, nobody seems to complain about that. government could go down the road you suggest a bit with that.i think your arguement is fact so cannot be argued, but i also think its scaremongering,if we took on board everything that could hypothetically happen/ happen again,we would never go forward.

But they would soon complain if it were put forward that every person would be fingerprinted.

Then you would get the ubiquitous “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear” argument from those in favour.

cashman · 07-09-2007, 13:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

But they would soon complain if it were put forward that every person would be fingerprinted.

Then you would get the ubiquitous “if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear” argument from those in favour.

i for one certainly would not object,had to be fingerprinted in spain for my residencia and did so no qualms.

BERNADETTE · 07-09-2007, 13:59

I have no reason to fear having my fingerprints being taken and/or kept on file!!

Gayle · 07-09-2007, 14:07

I am always sceptical of medical science. Things that are proven to be 100% often show up a few years later to have flaws.

I believe that someone will declare DNA testing 100% foolproof at some point but the problem is that it won't be! Then the problem will be how do you prove your innocence because you don't have to simply prove that you're innocent but you actually have to prove that the entire system could be flawed.

So from a criminal/police perspective I am very wary of a DNA database.

However, I do think that routine testing of DNA when a child is born could help prevent certain illnesses later in life if it is shown that some people may have a predisposition to them.

jambutty · 07-09-2007, 14:13

Quote:

Originally Posted by cashman

i for one certainly would not object,had to be fingerprinted in spain for my residencia and did so no qualms.

That is Spain, this is the UK. In any case as a visitor to Spain you have to abide by their laws that are already in place or you don’t get in.

There is no such necessity in the UK but it is being proposed that everyone submits a DNA sample to be stored on a national database, with a glib “safeguards will be put in place to prevent unauthorised access”. I wish!

Many years ago the government of the day was looking at the possibility of fingerprinting new born babies but the public outcry then soon put a stop to that idea.

You and others may agree with this Draconian idea but future generations won’t thank you for allowing it to happen.

jambutty · 07-09-2007, 14:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gayle

However, I do think that routine testing of DNA when a child is born could help prevent certain illnesses later in life if it is shown that some people may have a predisposition to them.

That is only a short step away from testing in the womb.

The spectre of Naziism rears its ugly head.

cashman · 07-09-2007, 14:27

Quote:

Originally Posted by jambutty

That is Spain, this is the UK. In any case as a visitor to Spain you have to abide by their laws that are already in place or you don’t get in.

sorry but you are totally wrong with that statement. most brits that live in spain DO NOT bother to take out residencia and they still live their no problem,so to say "you dont get in" is incorrect.i took it out cos i had a business,but many work in cafes/bars and just do not bother, also i happened to think it was a good system or i may not have bothered with it.