UK faces calls for universal DNA profiling
This article was originally published in Clinica
Executive Summary
An influential UK judge has called for the national DNA database to be made universal and expanded to contain the profiles of all UK residents and visitors to the country. This, Lord Justice Stephen Sedley argues, is the only way to ensure the system is ethically acceptable - he described the current situation, by which profiles are permanently recorded following a "minor brush" with the police, as "indefensible". The idea is being dismissed by the government on ethical, practical and logistical grounds - the UK has a population of 61 million (rising 0.6% per year), while around 33 million visitors enter the country every year.