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New Ethics Committee for the UK National DNA Database
The Home Office is currently advertising for a chair and up to 8 others to serve on the Ethics Group of the UK National DNA Database (NDNAD) (see advertisement). The Ethics Group will provide ethical review of NDNAD policy and decision making. The Home Office is seeking individuals with experience “at the highest level” in the areas of business, management, finance, public service, community work and the equalities field. The closing date for applications is 2 April 2007.
There have been calls for the NDNAD to institute some form of ethics review of its workings. In the 2002 Human Genetics Commission (HGC) report, Inside Information: Balancing Interests in the Use of Genetic Data, they recommended that “…the Home Office and Association of Chief Police Officers establish an independent body, which would include lay membership, to oversee the work of the National DNA Database custodian and the profile suppliers.” They also recommended that a separate national ethics committee be created to “…approve all research projects using human genetic information or material that can be linked to an identifiable person.” The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee, their 2005 report, Forensic Science on Trial, supported the HGC’s call for an ethics review committee. In response to these reports, members of the HGC were invited to sit on the NDNAD Strategy Board and it was agreed that an ethics committee would be established.
According to information provided by the Home Office, the role of the Ethics Group will be to:
- "Review the appropriateness of policy and practice.
- Maintain high ethical standards in decision making.
- Protect the safety of the public in providing and storing DNA samples and profiles.
- Protect the safety of law enforcement and courts stakeholders in the use of DNA-based information."
Specifically, the Ethics Group will advise on applications for research that involve access to NDNAD samples or data; the operational services provided by suppliers that are dependent on access to NDNAD samples or data; and on other matters as they arise. No indication is given of when the Group is expected to begin its work.