DNA testing by the NHS

[Kevin throwe]

I have long called for the gathering of DNA at birth. England has begun this. I predict that in 4 years the familiar DNA gets a father arrested from DNA evidence at a crime scene, and that in 8 years a major health issue is discovered. That will break open the research dam.

 

[tbm3fan]

Ah, something in the Life Sciences.

A genetic screening is already done at birth to test for serious genetic and metabolic disorders.

Now it sounds as though you are referring to complete genome sequencing? Am I right? If so, then from someone who was a biologist first, my answer would be no. Granted the police can use DNA, from a scene, to aid in an investigation as we all know. It can aid in who is the father of who.
However, the list to how such information could be misused is not short.

First, we have the consent of the patient. Babies can't consent. Second we have the privacy of the patient. Do they not deserve their privacy. One cannot open their mail without a legal warrant so why open their genome?

The full sequencing is really complex as compared to what is done at birth. Some will cite cost which is very expensive today. Aside from that who is going to interpret this information and be able to link it to future diseases which we called penetrance? If one does have some terrible future disorder, known at birth, what are you going to do? Tell them and freak the child and parents out? Do some sort of intervention that may not be needed? Or, in some hands, eliminate the child?

Granted their are upsides but oh boy are there downsides. In a perfect world I wouldn't worry but this is an imperfect world with imperfect people. I can recall fictional movies about the creation of a super race (oh oh shouldn't have used that word but may apply) through cloning. Today a fantasy still or is your idea a possible start for those so inclined? A bad actor can't possibly get this type of information by themselves but if collected by hospitals and collated by governments one sure does make it easier now. I won't be around for that, and neither will Arnold or you, but...........

Wow, too serious for a Sunday so time to take the old truck out for a drive to relax.

 

[Monash]

I have long called for the gathering of DNA at birth. England has begun this. I predict that in 4 years the familiar DNA gets a father arrested from DNA evidence at a crime scene, and that in 8 years a major health issue is discovered. That will break open the research dam.

The most immediate primary use would be confirming paternity assuming the parents are permitted to access the records for that purpose. Beyond that? It woudl require a court order to access the information i.e. a search warrant. In the circumstances you described. The information stored by the NHS is not accessible on a routine basis by external agencies unless it's been 'washed' of identification data i,e names and addresses. It is however hugely valuable for health research.

 

[Kevin throwe]

The most immediate primary use would be confirming paternity assuming the parents are permitted to access the records for that purpose. Beyond that? It woudl require a court order to access the information i.e. a search warrant. In the circumstances you described. The information stored by the NHS is not accessible on a routine basis by external agencies unless it's been 'washed' of identification data i,e names and addresses. It is however hugely valuable for health research.

The NHS main reason is research. As in America familiar DNA has solved crimes. With the military DNA banks and all accused of crimes DNA banks and others this data is getting out there. There will be great gains thru these studies. Data makes corporations wealthy. Data will help in healthcare.

 

[omon]

I has been done in USA for years, a piece of umbilical cord is placed in a specimen bag and send to a lab that you never hear from, happend with both of my kids, they do collect DNA. whether they should is a different story, stazi collected smell sample from every single person in DDR. After Berlin wall fell that was unclassified, a room with millions of glass jars with a piece of cloth that had a person scent.

 

[Monash]

I has been done in USA for years, a piece of umbilical cord is placed in a specimen bag and send to a lab that you never hear from, happend with both of my kids, they do collect DNA. whether they should is a different story, stazi collected smell sample from every single person in DDR. After Berlin wall fell that was unclassified, a room with millions of glass jars with a piece of cloth that had a person scent.

The Stazi never collected scent samples of every citizen in East Germany. The intention behind the operation was to capture the scent of known or suspected dissidents, key personnel and certain criminals in order to allow trained dog teams to track down any individual on their 'list' in the event one of them ever went on the run. There were more than 16 million people living in East Germany at the time and only a very limited number of trained dogs. Granted any individual dog could track multiple scents when exposed to them one at a time but sampling the entire population never occurred. You can google records to confirm the above.

 

[tbm3fan]

I has been done in USA for years, a piece of umbilical cord is placed in a specimen bag and send to a lab that you never hear from, happend with both of my kids, they do collect DNA. whether they should is a different story, stazi collected smell sample from every single person in DDR. After Berlin wall fell that was unclassified, a room with millions of glass jars with a piece of cloth that had a person scent.

DNA has been collected for awhile and tested for certain genetic disorders. Currently the whole genome is not sequenced at this time except in Florida where there is a voluntary program as of 2025. Takes about an hour per individual and it cost prohibitive on the large scale. That will change over time cost wise.

If you care to read, which you probably won't since it is long, but I have read it through, there is this link on pros and cons.

Arguments for and against the whole-genome sequencing of newborns - PMC

Recent decades have brought enormous progress in both genetics and genomics, as well as in information technology (IT). The sequence of the human genome is now known, and although our knowledge is far from complete, great progress has been made in ...

pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov