Certainly any improper use of DNA samples should be rigorously punished.
Also critical to resolve, according to the article, are the ethical issues concerning the collection and use of DNA samples.
"It is a scientific imperative that we enact enforceable policies that determine what constitutes responsible and accountable collection and secondary use of DNA samples," the article says.
Only two states, Colorado and California, have a codified policy permitting a so-called familial search, the use of DNA samples taken from convicted criminals to track down relatives who may themselves have committed a crime.
The counter-terror measures outlined today confirm the widely trailed contents including the introduction of post-charge questioning of terror suspects, lifting limits on the use of DNA samples taken from terror suspects on control orders, and introducing a travel ban on convicted terrorists going overseas.
CODIS regulated the use of DNA samples in the federal database by mandating that samples be processed through compliance with quality assurance standards, that they undergo an external audit, and that the laboratories submitting DNA records are accredited through a non-profit, nationally recognized association engaged in forensic science.
BERKELEY — As the popularity of take-home DNA kits to trace ancestry or calculate the risk for serious medical conditions grows, there is an increasingly critical need for federal oversight of "direct-to consumer" genetic testing, as well as of the use of DNA samples for research, according to researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, and several other academic institutions.
The ethics advisory group, set up to advise ministers on the proper use of DNA samples, recommended in its last annual report: "All databases containing DNA information including the counter-terrorism database held by the police service should be subject to a robust statutory governance framework, appropriate systems and controls, and should be transparent and only be used for statutory purposes".
The Dutch parliament adopted a law in 2003 regulating forensic DNA phenotyping, the use of DNA samples to predict a suspect's ancestry or physical characteristics.
Approval for the use of DNA samples was obtained from the South Sheffield Research Ethics Committee and written consent was obtained from the donors.
