29
ISSUES: Privacy
Chapter 2: Surveillance
Sweden: national DNA database could
soon be released to law enforcement and
private companies
Sweden has been collecting newborn DNA samples since 1975.
By India Ashok
S
o
far
jealously
guarded,
research-only national DNA
database in Sweden may soon
be made available to law enforcement
and private firms, including insurance
companies. The Swedish Government
began collecting blood samples of
newborn babies in 1975, with the
approval of parents, in efforts to aid
medical research into phenylketonuria
(PKU) – a genetic metabolic deficiency.
The DNA database, in time, has become
one of the world’s most comprehensive
registries, which contains genetic
information on every Swedish citizen
under the age of 43,
Ars Technica
reported. The database so far has
been off limits, except to the medical
research community. There have been
very rare instances of the police being
allowed to have access to the database,
especially after a law was implemented
which required the police to obtain
a court order to gain access to the
database.
The Swedish Government recently
commissioned an inquiry aimed at
determining the management and use
of the DNA database, which has been
maintained by the Karolinska University
Hospital. It will look into the possibility
of making the registry available not only
to law enforcement agencies but also to
private firms. Rick Falkvinge, the founder
of the Pirate Party in Sweden, declared
the move to be “an outrageous and
audacious breach of contract”.
Falkvinge added: “The instant there’s
a mere suspicion that this will be used
against the sampled newborn in the
future – as is the case now – instead of
being used for the good of humanity
as a whole, people won’t provide the
DNA database with more samples, or
at least not enough samples to provide
researchable coverage.”
The database was originally created for
purely medical research purposes and
is considered to be an invaluable trove
for the scientific research community.
However, researchers and privacy
activists have expressed concerns
about the possible repercussions and
privacy infringement, in the event of the
DNA database being made available to
law enforcement and private firms.
Falkvinge told IBTimes UK: “It’s also
noteworthy that the PKU register isn’t
useful
for
Hollywood-movie-style
police ‘fishing expeditions’, as it’s really
just one blood sample per individual.
It’s not sequenced and sampled and
searchable against a random sample.
What it is, though, is that if already
you know the specific individual you
want to match against, you would be
able to find their blood sample in this
register and compare against that one
specifically.”
He added: “Legislators tend to forget
that law enforcement isn’t the single
most important task in society. Law
enforcement exists for a purpose – to
uphold our liberty, our values, our
community. When law enforcement
is given powers that destroy those
values and that purpose, it becomes
counterproductive
and
more
dangerous than the crime it’s fighting.”
17 July 2017
Ö
Ö
The above information is reprinted
with kind permission from the
International Business Times
. Please
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for further
information.
© International Business Times 2017
