Ethical Use Of Dna Database

The question is should the United States of America require all of its citizens to submit DNA fingerprinting samples. Some citizens will say it is a good idea because it will make it easy to identify persons of interest. For example, the US Department of Defense maintains a database of over one million DNA samples for use in identifying the remains of armed forces members. (Johnson, 2004). Ethically DNA database usage could borderline invasion of privacy; examples of governments that tried to enforce such strict censuses on their citizens plague history and besmirch the concept of a DNA database at its core. Experts in the field of law argue over the use of genetic information as a means of surveillance with claims that DNA databases violate

the Fourth Amendment, which protects against unlawful search and seizure of property, including ones DNA; however, DNA profiling can be ruled as constitutional since DNA profiling falls into the same legal category as fingerprinting,
Privacy concerns over DNA databases have led to numerous court challenges based on claims that compelled collection of DNA for inclusion in the database violates the Fourth Amendment requirements of a valid search and seizure (Noble, 2006).According to Noble, Congress passed The DNA Fingerprint Act of 2005, expanding inclusion criteria for DNA databanks to all those arrested for certain federal offenses, and for detainees in the case of non-U.S. persons. The Act also permits expanded inclusion of DNA profiles collected at the state level into the Combined DNA Index System (CODIS).