Last year Texas State officials were sued for storing infant blood sample without parental consent. The blood sample were said to have been for medical research into birth defects and childhood cancer. However, it has recently been learned that many of these sample where actually being used by the federal government to build a vast DNA database. Hundreds of blood sample were sent to the Armed Forces lab to build a national and, someday, international mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) registry, to hopefully one day help crack missing persons and cold cases. Up until 2002 blood sample were simple thrown away but starting that year, the state health department began storing blood spots indefinitely, for “research into causes of selected diseases.” “State health officials never notified parents of the changes; they didn’t need consent for the birth-defect screening, so they didn’t ask for it for research purposes.” This has caused and uproar by many parents
From the parents point of view they are unaware of where their children’s DNA may end up. Unfortunately it might end up in the wrong persons hands and could come back to haunt there children later in life. As far as the database is concerned, it was a great idea to start up a new DNA database to be able to help forensic investigators solve cases later own down the road, if just should have been started with the parents consent.
Throughout the article they only talked about the database and how affective if could be briefly, it should have talked about the benefits that this database could provide more. In addition, the article doesn’t specifically state who was sued and by whom it just states that state officials were sued.
http://www.texastribune.org/stories/2010/feb/22/dna-deception/
11 comments:
I found Travis’ article very interesting. First of all, I liked the fact that the relation to blood samples and DNA is exactly what we are studying now. I also enjoyed the part of the article that described how the blood that was for medical research is for a lab that will hopefully crack cold cases or missing people. I also liked how Travis completely described the new database, its capabilities, and its effect on other people. However I thought that this article may have been a bit out-dated and lacked an example if any of this new databases success. Prior to this informal article I was unaware of such a database with these capabilities so thank you Travis.
One aspect that I found to be very well presented was the fact that the government was taking the samples of DNA for children without the consent of the children’s parents. The article brought up the problem that these DNA’s could be taken in the wrong hands and used against the children later in their life. They could be related to a murder or even convicted of a murder through the planting of their DNA at a crime scene. Another aspect is that the samples taken are of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Also, samples began to be saved in 2002, when before that they were simply thrown away.
One suggestion that I have for the article is to go more in depth of why they use mitochondrial DNA not nuclear DNA. It should also state how it is better for these circumstances than regular nuclear DNA. Another suggestion is to possibly give examples of cases when these children’s DNA has been used to frame them. Also, why is it just children’s DNA?
What impressed me the most was the fact that prior to 2002; the DNA was simply thrown away. I would have thought that the DNA would not just be thrown away; I at least thought it was kept but not used.
One aspects of this review that was well presented was how he provided background information pertaining to the deception of the Texas State officials. Also well presented were his description of why this has become such an issue and his description as to how such a database might be helpful in the future. This article could be improved by providing information as to how the parents found out this was happening and describe how the children could be haunted later in life. From this article I learned that the government is working on creating a database for mitochondrial DNA.
One aspect that i thought was a positive, was the fact that taking samples of DNA by the government without consent of the parents was happening. It also explained how DNA could be taken and in used against children later on in life. Another aspect, was how the article tied into things we are learning in class at the moment.
A suggestion that i have that could strengthen the article, is I thought that this article may have been a bit out dated. Also, a more in depth explanation of how DNA can be used in children later in life.
Lastly, I learned that prior to 2002, DNA was thrown away and databases were note kept. This is a major fundamental for Forensic Sciences.
this is a very interesting lab. although it is for a greater purpose i think it is wrong to store DNA samples without consent. i also liked how travis also accussed the government of using false pretenses to use this loophole to start this DNA registry. i also like how travis did a good job in deciding how he thought the original article could be improved.
i think that travis should have included more on the steps taken to stop this new DNA registry. i also wish that it could include what would happen to the samples already on file if the program were to be stopped.
i learned how the government can always have an alterior motive fore something that seems like it is for the good of the people.
In my opinion, this article was very interesting because it captures the interest of its reader. The subject is very interesting and the way the review was written was perfect. Two things I did not like were that there was not much information as to what was going to happen next. What will the parents and government do in order to fix this. This does not seem like it is very legal and should have been noticed long ago. I learned that the government is storing DNA without notifying anybody and that is not fair.
I found that the government was taking the samples of DNA for children without the consent of their parents. I thought this was very strange especially since the children's DNA could be used against them possibly later in life. Thats why it is mostly important for having the consent of the children's parents. Their DNA could possibly be recklessly used to be planted at a crime scene.
One suggestion of mine about this article is that it could be much more descriptive especially regarding mitochondrial DNA. This author could also give examples of cases when children's DNA had been used against them to prove their example.
I found this article to be very informing and i was not aware that the government was creating a database for mitochondrial DNA.
Three things I liked about the article. The first thing I liked about this article were taking the children samples without asking the permission from the parents. The second thing I liked about this article was that the blood was actually thrown away. The third thing I liked about this article was that the health department never notifies the parents about the blood being stored and thrown away. Two Suggestions: I would suggest a more in depth look at what is going on behind closed doors. The second thing Is that travis could have given an example. One thing I didnt know before was that the government could take samples without permission.
This article was very intesting, considering the fact that it covers a topic along the lines of what we are currently learning in class. I thought it was also interesting how Travis said the blood used for medical research is for a lab that will hopefully crack cold cases or missing people. Travis did a good job of introducing the new database, its effect on other people due to its capabilities. This article could have been better if it was more recent news, for this database definatly has a sucessor which never was mentioned. What fascinates me is that prior to 2002DNA was simply thrown away never filed which seems ludacris to me.
I found Travis’ article very interesting. I liked the fact that the relation to blood samples and DNA is exactly what we are studying now. I also enjoyed the part of the article that described how the blood that was for medical research is for a lab that will hopefully crack cold cases or missing people. In addition, I liked how Travis completely described the new database, its abilities, and its effect on other people. However I thought that this article may have been a bit old and lacked an example if any of this new databases success. Before this article I was unaware of such a database with these capabilities so glad that he cleared it up.
I liked that the relation to blood samples and DNA is what we studied. I also liked was learning that the government was taking DNA samples of children with there parents approval. And I liked the review, it really told you everything you needed to know. I did not like that it didn't really tell what would happen next, I also did not like was that the article seemed outdated. I had no idea that a database lke this existed.
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