Topics:

Databases

Gene Patenting

DNA and Insurance

White House seeks to expand DNA database
DNA profiles from juvenile offenders and from adults who have been arrested but not convicted would be added to the FBI’s national DNA database under a Bush administration proposal

Immigrants’ DNA to flood U.S. database
The U.S. Justice Department is finishing rules to allow a vast expansion of its DNA gathering to include samples from most people arrested or detained by the federal authorities, officials said

Google offers DNA testing kit
Google-funded 23andMe is now offering a $999 saliva-based DNA test intended to help customers learn about their genes

Perlegen Gains Exclusive Access to Data on Four Million Patients to Enable Personalized Medicine
Perlegen and its partner will mine data from the EMR’s growing information warehouse, which currently contains clinical treatment and outcome data on roughly four million patients, to enable the identification of subsets of patient records which meet highly specific inclusion and exclusion criteria

The Human Genome Diversity project
Without doubt the most politically explosive aspect of the project is the question of the ownership of knowledge and patents.

‘Vampire Project’ raises issue of patents for human genes - Human Genome Diversity Project
The Diversity Project purports to study the genetic makeup of non-Europeans, but critics claim such research would crassly exploit indigenous peoples — ‘colonialism on the molecular level

Should children be placed on the DNA database?
Should children be placed on a DNA database if deemed at risk of becoming criminals? Bloggers are horrified at the idea, writes Sara Gaines

Scotland Yard Investigator Wants to Collect DNA from School Children
The director of Scotland Yard’s forensics division says that Britain should be collecting DNA samples from any primary school children who show signs of behavior that exhibit a propensity for later crimes, according to an article in the Observer.

Database keeps DNA from cleared suspects
Quietly and without fanfare, the state of Ohio for three years has collected DNA profiles from people cleared of crimes.

Police put 100,000 innocent children on DNA database
The number of innocent children placed on the Government’s vast DNA database for life has quadrupled in the past year to more than 100,000, it has emerged.

DNA database “should include every citizen”
“If we’re all on the database, we’re all in exactly the same boat - the issue of discrimination disappears,” says Alec Jeffreys of the University of Leicester, UK

Biometrics a cause for concern?
In the beginning was the fingerprint

DNA of UK military forces to be stored
All British military personnel deployed to Iraq or Afghanistan are to be given the chance to store their DNA in a secure armed forces repository from later this year.

FBI may collect juveniles’ DNA
DNA profiles from hundreds of thousands of juvenile offenders and adults arrested but not convicted of crimes could be added to the FBI’s national DNA crime-fighting program under a proposed law moving through Congress

Unisys to revamp the FBI’s DNA database
Unisys won a six-year contract worth as much as $50 million to develop the FBI’s Next-Generation Combined DNA Index System (NGCODIS) which will include advanced database search and analysis technologies

DNA database can flag suspects through relatives
The FBI has begun permitting police investigators to pursue some criminal suspects by tracking the DNA of close relatives who have been convicted of other offenses.

NY Gov Spitzer Plans to Expand DNA Database
New York governor Eliot Spitzer wants to broaden the state’s DNA database to include DNA taken from people found guilty of any misdemeanor

A DNA plan that goes too far
Prop. 69, however, would dramatically expand the database to require a DNA sample at the time of any felony arrest — even for shoplifting, trespassing or writing a bad check.

DNA database creates genetic surveillance
Warrantless seizure of DNA from individuals who are arrested but not convicted of crimes is being considered in the Maryland General Assembly.

One million children on DNA database
The news has prompted concerns from civil liberties campaigners that Britain is becoming a “surveillance state”.

One-Fifth of Human Genes Have Been Patented, Study Reveals
A new study shows that 20 percent of human genes have been patented in the United States, primarily by private firms and universities

The scramble to patent human genes
Does it matter if intellectual property rights to the human genome end up in the hands of an oligopoly of genomics companies?

Human gene patents defended
Celera Genomics Group has filed preliminary patents on 6,500 whole or partial human genes, but will take only a few of them through the full patent process, its president, Craig Venter, has said

Gene Patent Battle
Japan, U.S. Compete for Human Genome Rights

Bill Would Restrict Use of Genetic Tests By Long-Term Care Insurers
Lawmakers want to prohibit long-term care insurers from using genetic tests to determine coverage, but a compromise forged with insurance companies could allow limited use of previously taken tests

States Claiming Ownership of Newborn’s DNA
Unknown to most new parents, or those who became parents in the last ten or so years, DNA of newborns has been harvested, tested, stored and experimented with by all 50 states

DNA And The Insurance Industry
Of course insurance companies are interested in discriminating based on a genetic markers. That’s what insurance companies do: they evaluate risks and then offer pricing and coverage that are appropriate and profitable based on those risks

DNA Results May Affect Your Health Insurance Coverage
People are afraid to pass DNA test and to find out they have genetically transmitted diseases in family, because it may eventually affect their health insurance coverage making it even less affordable and cause discrimination from health insurance providers and employers.

Patients fear DNA testing could hinder Health Insurance
A majority off people in the United States are hesitant to undergo a genetic DNA test because of the fear of negative results which would hinder with their health insurance and also have a negative influence on their employers