IS DNA fingerprinting unconstitutional? A US Court of Appeals may be about to rule that it is, on the back of recent science.
聯A US Court of Appeals may be about to rule that DNA fingerprinting is unconstitutional聰
DNA fingerprinting is a routine part of data collection on those charged with felonies in the US. The 鈥渇ingerprint鈥� comprises markers that do not code for proteins but help to distinguish individuals from one another.
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Some of those fingerprinted say that recording the markers breaches their privacy, and they have launched an .
The results of the Encyclopedia of DNA Elements (ENCODE) project 鈥� revealed last month 鈥� may play an important role in the case. The , which has volunteered information to the appeal, says ENCODE confirms that non-functioning DNA plays a role in cell behaviour.
But it is unusual for single markers to give any privacy-breaching information, says at the University of Guelph in Ontario, Canada. 鈥淭he genetic tests [help] exonerate people,鈥� he says, 鈥淚 would hate to see a backlash because of a misinterpretation of one study.鈥�