Arrests are being made 'to expand DNA files' (More British Big Brother)

Police are routinely arresting people simply to record their DNA profiles on the national database, according to a report published today.

It also states that three quarters of young black men are on the database. The finding risks stigmatising a whole section of society, the equality watchdog has warned.

The revelations will fuel the debate about the DNA database, the world’s largest. They are included in a report by the Human Genetics Commission, an independent government advisory body. It criticises the piecemeal development of the database and questions how effective it is in helping the police to investigate and solve crimes.

Jonathan Montgomery, commission chairman, said that “function creep” over the years had transformed a database of offenders into one of suspects. Almost one million innocent people are now on the DNA database.

Professor Montgomery said: “It’s now become pretty much routine to take DNA samples on arrest, so large numbers of people on the DNA database will be there not because they have been convicted, but because they’ve been arrested.”

It’s reports like this {and Waco/Ruby Ridge} that lend the “Police are NOT your friend” people great credibility.

Given the absolutely craptacular leadership we have, a House of Representatives that doesen’t, a Senate that is just as arrogant and just as corrupt, a Supreme Court which constantly and consistently rejects the rights of the people {standing, anyone?}, and an Executive branch that appears to be as corrupt as Chicago (I cynically thing it’s worse)... so, given all that, at what point do we reject the notion of Infallibility for the Government?

Rand said it best about unenforceable, complex laws that one couldn’t help but violate.

In a related note, one of the local stations in Austin Texas is doing an investigative report on why the state of Texas and the Texas Department of State Health Services is holding onto blood samples of millions of Texas newborns since 2002. They are being stored (supposedly) at Texas A&M University.

Several families have filed a lawsuit asking why the state has the right to hold onto the blood/DNA samples long after they have completed the standard newborn tests. Up to 10 spots/samples are taken, but only a few are actually used in the tests.

More information:

http://www.texascivilrightsproject.org/?p=1096

March 18, 2009

Suit Raises Concerns about Collecting Genetic and DNA Data

Five parents this week filed a federal lawsuit in San Antonio U.S. District Court against the Texas Department of State Health Services (TDSHS), Commissioner David Lakey, M.D., Texas A&M, and Texas A&M Vice Chancellor for Health Affairs Nancy Dickey, M.D., claiming they have unlawfully and deceptively collected blood samples from their children at time of birth and stored those samples indefinitely for undisclosed research purposes, without plaintiffs’ knowledge or consent.

The suit alleges that the agencies’ activities constitute unlawful search and seizure and violate fundamental privacy rights, contrary to federal and state law, because at the time newborn children have a blood test to screen them for disease or disorders, TDSHS secretly collects and stores their blood indefinitely for other purposes without telling parents what it is doing or why it is doing it. Law requires newborn screening, but there is no legal authority to “seize” the blood and keep it indefinitely, without consent.

The suit also claims that the agencies violate standard, mandatory medical research protocols of obtaining informed consent from subjects before they are studied, using a method that clearly explains to them all the privacy ramifications.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services regulations set out protocols with regard to minor children and include providing: (1) a description of the research’s purpose and procedure; (2) disclosure of privacy implications of the research; (3) whom to call if questions arise about the research; (4) parental consent; and, (5) a statement of no reprisals for declining to participate in the research. The state agencies do not abide by a single one of these protocols.

Nor have the agency officials disclosed what financial interests or transactions are involved, such as taxpayer expense or whether the samples are sold.

Since 2002, agency officials have routinely collected blood samples from all babies in Texas at time of birth and stored those samples or “spots” indefinitely at the Texas A&M Health Science Center School of Rural Public Health for purposes of undisclosed research unrelated to the purposes for which the infants’ blood was originally drawn, without the knowledge or consent of the infants’ parents. And they continue to do so. So far, they have collected about 4.2 million samples, and collect about 375,000 each year.

The tinfoil crowd thinks a DNA database of everybody in the state is quietly being built and this is one way to feed data into it without raising suspicion. I think it's probably being sold. Either way, my grandkids are affected and I hope the lawsuit exposes what the state is doing.

Once the video goes online tonight or tomorrow, I'll post links to it.

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