Your DNA ~ Suprise!
Posted: Sun Jun 09, 2013 9:17 pmRecently the US Supreme Court ruling allows law enforcement to collect DNA samples from people arrested but not yet convicted of serious crimes. Rest assured this sample will likely be stored in the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database which is the largest DNA database in the world and as of 2011 held nine million records.
However what most people are totally unaware of is that a law was passed in 2008 making DNA screening for newborns mandatory!
“The DNA of virtually every newborn in the United States is collected and tested soon after birth. There are some good reasons for this testing, but it also raises serious privacy concerns that parents should know about.
States require hospitals to screen newborns for certain genetic and other disorders. Many states view the testing as so important they do not require medical personnel to get parents’ express permission before carrying it out. To collect the DNA sample, medical personnel prick the newborn’s heel and place a few drops of blood on a card. There is one question that new parents rarely ask: What happens to the blood spots after the testing is done? This is where newborn screening becomes problematic.
It used to be that after the screening was completed the blood spots were destroyed. Not anymore. Today it is increasingly common for states to hold onto these samples for years, even permanently. Some states also use the samples for unrelated purposes, such as in scientific research, and give access to the samples to others.”
Source: http://www.aclu.org/free-speech-technol ... na-banking
So think about this for a moment from the time you are born a DNA sample is going to be taken, without any parental consent needed, and it will likely stored indefinitely in a government database.
However what most people are totally unaware of is that a law was passed in 2008 making DNA screening for newborns mandatory!
“The DNA of virtually every newborn in the United States is collected and tested soon after birth. There are some good reasons for this testing, but it also raises serious privacy concerns that parents should know about.
States require hospitals to screen newborns for certain genetic and other disorders. Many states view the testing as so important they do not require medical personnel to get parents’ express permission before carrying it out. To collect the DNA sample, medical personnel prick the newborn’s heel and place a few drops of blood on a card. There is one question that new parents rarely ask: What happens to the blood spots after the testing is done? This is where newborn screening becomes problematic.
It used to be that after the screening was completed the blood spots were destroyed. Not anymore. Today it is increasingly common for states to hold onto these samples for years, even permanently. Some states also use the samples for unrelated purposes, such as in scientific research, and give access to the samples to others.”
Source: http://www.aclu.org/free-speech-technol ... na-banking
So think about this for a moment from the time you are born a DNA sample is going to be taken, without any parental consent needed, and it will likely stored indefinitely in a government database.