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DNA Databases
The Council for Responsible Genetics has spent the last 24 years describing some of the potential dangers associated with the collection of DNA and the promulgation of reductionist ideas about genes and genetics that often result. However, many of these potential dangers stem from the storage of genetic information.
Even if we have reason to believe that those collecting DNA for databases have nothing but benign intentions, we often cannot know who else will have access to the data they have collected. And once our genetic information is codified as computer data, it is very difficult to track its flow, or more importantly, call it back.
As rapid human genotyping becomes a higher development priority, the applications available to those who have amassed DNA databases will increase. And as more becomes known about genes, individually and in the ways they interact with one another and the environment, these applications will have broader impacts on our everyday lives.
Briefs and Position Papers
The following position papers and briefs represent The Council for Responsible Genetics' views on some of the more pressing issues related to the expansion of DNA Databases.
Differential Trust in DNA Forensics
Troy Duster
(also available in .pdf)
Brief on Genetics and Crime
Evan Balaban and Richard Lewontin
(also available in .pdf)
Rapid DNA Database Expansion and Disparate Minority Impact
Jenny Rushlow
(also available in .pdf)
Deconstructing Violence
Corey Morris, Aimee Shen, Khadija Pierce and Jon Beckwith
Bibliography
The following is a list of books, newspaper, journal and magazine articles, case studies and other materials compiled by CRG, which cover a variety of issues related to the collection and storage of DNA Samples.
DNA Database Bibliography
GeneWatch Articles and Other Materials
CRG has a long history of work on the topic of DNA Databases, with much of it appearing in GeneWatch Magazine. Those articles, as well as other materials CRG has produced on this topic, have been organized under three headings: Forensic DNA Databases, Eugenics and Genetic Privacy and Discrimination.
Forensic DNA Databases: One of the principle areas where DNA databases are used is the criminal justice system. While the appeal of using cutting-edge science and technology to catch and convict criminals (or to exonerate those falsely convicted) is high, there are also risks associated with he rapid proliferation of these databases.
Eugenics: The cataloging of human genetic information has often been done as part of efforts to define certain traits as being "good" or "bad." Historically, some geneticists have taken such information to a dangerous next step: suggesting that people with those "bad" traits not be allowed to pass them on, and devising ways to prevent them from doing so.
Genetic Privacy and Discrimination: As the ability to store and analyze genetic profiles increases, new ways of applying the information that can be gleaned from one's DNA are developed. In this rapidly-changing field, it is often difficult to even say what kinds of information one's DNA might reveal, making privacy related decisions much more difficult. Considering the possibility of genetic discrimination, these decisions will only get more complex and their implications more serious.
CRG in the Press
Fall 2006
DNA Typing: A Technology of Fear (.pdf)
By Sujatha Byravan
Development 2006
November 27, 2006
A Genetic Risk for Violent Behavior?
By Jacob Russel,
United Press International
July/Aug 2006
A Cold Hit
By David Dudley
Cornell Magazine
August 9, 2006
Racism by Other Means
By Sujatha Byravan
The Hindu
November 2, 2005
Ensuring Privacy in Genetic Testing
By Sujatha Byravan and Jane Matlaw
Boston Globe
January 14, 1999
DNA Data Banks Would Taint Justice
By Paul Billings,
Boston Globe
January 19, 1998
Genetic Discrimination: A Primer
Diane Horn inerviews Philip Bereano,
KCMU 90.3, Seattle, WA
External Links
Sentencing Project Bibliography
Eugenics Records Office Archive at Cold Spring Harbor
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