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Posted on 11/16/2001, 9:16:27 PM by dead

The NSW Privacy Commissioner, Chris Puplick, is inquiring into how statistical DNA information extracted from hundreds of blood donors ended up on two State Government databases which have been cited in criminal proceedings.

The databases are housed alongside the Government's DNA crime database at the Health Department's division of analytical laboratories, Lidcombe.

The statistical databases contain only general information about the genetic make-up of the NSW population but the Herald was threatened with a Supreme Court injunction by the Australian Red Cross Blood Service after it asked how the blood was obtained.

The Health Department had initially claimed that it had been given "de-identified expired" samples by the Red Cross, but the Red Cross said this was not true.

The department then retracted its earlier statement and conceded that Division of Analytical Laboratories officials had collected blood from about 500 donors at Red Cross premises in 1989.

The blood was used to establish blood typing and DNA mapping when DNA profiling systems were being established in NSW. One statistical database was compiled in 1989, and a second about 1995, using the same blood. Both databases have been cited in criminal court cases, including that of the convicted backpacker killer Ivan Milat. The department said they were no longer being used, but conceded they still existed.

The issue of whether the donors gave informed consent for the compiling of the databases is understood to be central to Mr Puplick's inquiries.

The Red Cross said that all of the donors whose blood was collected at its centres had given verbal consent.

The department at first said that only "the majority" gave consent, but a spokesman, Wayne Geddes, said later that he believed that all of the donors gave verbal consent.

Mr Puplick said it appeared "unclear what nature of consent" was obtained. No consent forms would appear to have been prepared or signed.

The Red Cross told the Herald that departmental staff discussed with potential donors the intended use of the samples. If the donor consented, blood was gathered in a separate test tube was not bar-coded or marked with any identification, and no record of the donor was kept.

The blood samples were used only to establish statistical DNA information about general population trends and were never placed on or used in connection with any database of convicted offenders or compared with crime scene samples.

Michael Strutt, a spokesman for the prisoners' rights group Justice Action, said there appeared to be no NSW legislation to ensure anonymity of the samples or to stop extracted DNA data being sold to companies.

"The NSW Health Department is unlikely to enjoy the level of trust among blood donors that the Red Cross has.

"In Tonga, Iceland and Estonia the DNA of citizens has been sold by their governments to biotech companies."

The Greens Upper House MP, Lee Rhiannon, said: "The Greens are asking the Health Department to come clean and help protect the role and reputation of the Red Cross."

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