United Kingdom National DNA Database - Potential Expansion of Database

Potential Expansion of Database

The idea of expanding the database to cover the entire UK population has drawn some support as well strong criticism from experts such as the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, but been rejected for the moment by the UK government as impractical and problematic for civil liberties. Supporters include Lord Justice Sedley and some police officers, and Tony Blair said in 2006 that he could see no reason why the DNA of everyone should not ultimately be kept on record. Opponents of the expansion include Reclaim Your DNA, backed by No2ID, GeneWatch and Liberty among others. Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, said in 2007 that a database for every man, woman and child in the country was "a chilling proposal, ripe for indignity, error and abuse".

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