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Take everyone's DNA fingerprint, says pioneer
Independent UK February 3, 2003
Everybody in Europe and the US should have their genetic fingerprints
entered into an international database to enable law enforcement agencies to
fight crime and terrorism in an unstable world, according to James Watson,
the co-discoverer of the DNA double helix (Editor: and Nobel Prize winner).
In an exclusive interview with The Independent to mark the 50th anniversary
of his discovery, the scientist said the risks posed by terrorists and
organised criminals now outweighed the possible objections on civil
liberties grounds to a DNA database.
"It is not that I am insensitive to the concerns about individual privacy or
to the potential for inappropriate use of genetic information, but it would
make life safer," Professor Watson, the president of the Cold Spring Harbor
Laboratory in New York, said.
As the first director of the Human Genome Project, Professor Watson set
aside funds to examine the potential ethical concerns relating to the misuse
of genetic information. DNA fingerprints, which do not contain medical
information and are merely used to establish a person's identity, pose fewer
threats, he said.
"The sacrifice of this particular form of anonymity does not seem an
unreasonable price to pay, provided the laws see to a strict and judicious
control over access to public data," he said. "It would be harder to be a
crook. If you want to make the criminal justice system more fair, what's
wrong with it?"
Europe and the US could introduce such a database relatively cheaply and
easily, he said. "It's hard to imagine that in 100 years from now we won't
have it. With the increase in terrorism, we want to know who people are."
Many people might object out of an irrational fear of DNA, which has a
"voodoo quality", he admitted. "A lack of understanding of genetic
complexities leaves one susceptible to the worst anxieties and conspiracy
theories."
Professor Alec Jeffreys of Leicester University, who developed DNA
fingerprinting in the 1980s, also called for a national DNA database for
crime fighting in a speech last year at the Science Festival. Since its
development, the fingerprinting technique has become one of the most
powerful tools in forensic science.
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Prominent Scientists and Governments Join to DNA Tag
Everyone in the Western World with New Biometric IDs
"Everybody in Europe and the US should
have their genetic fingerprints entered into an international database to
enable law enforcement agencies to fight crime and terrorism in an unstable
world."
"It is not that I am insensitive to the
concerns about individual privacy or to the potential for inappropriate use
of genetic information, but it would make life safer."
"The sacrifice of this particular form
of anonymity does not seem an unreasonable price to pay..."
"A lack of understanding of genetic
complexities leaves one susceptible to the worst anxieties and conspiracy
theories."
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