Should governments require residents to contribute to national DNA databases?
ARGUMENTS FOR
Used for genetic studies
Helps to solve crimes faster
Left DNA from the culprit at a crime scene (such as saliva, hair strand, left pieces of skin) can be taken as solid proof and when the samples are tested and test results are put in the database it will show them directly who the culprit is
It can help scientists understand more about the human body and human different genes without being forced to actually pay for volunteers to make studies on them (data for making researches is already available by the permission of the government)
Refutation: the samples left at a crime scene doesnt always belong to the culprit, instead it might belong to someone who have been there beforehand
These genetic studies can be used to early detect the possible diseases someone could get infected with and try to treat it early or reduce the possible symptoms
DNA databases can be shared between countries
This gives the benefit of perusing wanted criminals who escaped to foreign countries or international criminals who make crimes in several countries
It would make people who didnt do anything wrong much safer now that the government has collected everyone’s DNA, so if suspected in something they could sample the suspected person’s DNA and match it with the DNA that is suspected to be the criminal’s DNA
ARGUMENTS AGAINST
Invades people’s privacy
People’s privacy rights would be violated by forcing them to do things they don’t want, and that is in our case, taking samples of their DNA
Profiling people
When people refuse to sample their DNA, the government could take serious actions against them which could lead to a lot of violence between people and the government and it could cause a lot of civil problems
When having everyone’s DNA there would be a lot of discrimination and racism towards people upon having different genes in their bodies
People might actually not be able to continue their everyday lives when their DNA is sampled. For example, someone might not be accepted for a job because he doesn’t have the gene for honesty!
It could introduce a better way to deal with everyday necessities
It can reduce the crimes of impersonation and that’s by easily matching the person’s DNA with the databases they have
Can make transactions and deals people do everyday much easier and that by finishing them off with the person’s DNA. For example: taking money out of a bank
Not 100% accurate or safe
Even if the government forced people to sample their DNA, they can’t assure them that it would be super accurate hence DNA matching is always at 99.9%, so there is still that 0.01% which could make a great deal in a sensitive situation
The data stored in an online database can be easily hacked unless the presence of super high protection software and that is not available in the current times as hackers have developed many ways to hack into even the highly protected information
It would make people feel always suspected by the government and watched by them doing god knows what in their lives
Refutation: some scientists could actually develop vaccines to change the human genes according to criminal plans they have in their minds
Criminals could use the database to fulfill their perfect crime plan