ETHI: Military DNA banking

[Hans Goerl <GENETHICS@delphi.com>]

From: "C. POLYCHRONAKOS" <MC97@MUSICA.MCGILL.CA>
-
    DNA testing for disease susceptibility can be done only
with the exrpess written consent of the individual. I do not think
that this can ever become compulsory,  morally or legally.
 Testing for casualty identification is a different story.
It could, I suppose, be
imposed on prospective recruits. Were the soldiers asked for
a written consent? If yes, what was stated about potential other
uses?
    DNA from near relatives could be used to confirm that a sample
belongs to a given individual. Since the markers used are not
functionally important, such testing would reveal no information
about disease susceptibility. It might, however, reveal other kinds
of information that individuals may very much wish to keep private,
such as non-paternity (about 5% of all families tested in genetic
studies are found to have incompatibilities between parents
and children).
    Constantin Polychronakos
Department of Pediatrics
McGill University, Montreal, Canada

MAIL>