DNA database, nanotech and privacy
A bunch of final year high school students contacted me this week for some help with their assignment on whether every person should have their DNA on a database – a genetic version of the national ID card.
This same question has cropped up today in a presentation I gave to a University of the Third Age (U3A) group about nanotechnology and the phenomenal computing power such technology could bring us.
How are the two connected and what is the issue. Well, let me describe a scenario for you. You are now in the year 2040 (give or take).
With our massive computing power we can monitor and record everything you do, say and socialise with. Our banks, credit card companies, supermarkets and people you aren’t even aware of know your personal preferences, shopping habits and daily movements.
Big deal! They already do a lot of this and they say you can’t cross London today without being caught on camera 300 times.
OK, in 2040 we also have everyone’s DNA on a database. In 2009 we know a bit about how genes, and which ones, influence disease, athleticism and development. In 2040 your genome will reveal your best and worst secrets: your likelihood of getting a genetic-linked disease, your susceptibility to drug addiction, psychoses, violence, criminal behaviour or your chances of winning gold at the Olympic Games. (Maybe we could even set up a DNA dating service, where we match people based on their genetic compatibility.)
In 2040 computing power will give us the ability to store the contents of the national library in your mobile phone; your whole life recorded on something smaller than a mini-memory stick. That is cool, but the concern raised by many in this U3A talk is that in 2040 this computing power will also allow someone (and the specific concern is which someone, or which computer) to fuse, mine, synthesise and use that information for or against an individual.
About two years ago at a science education event, a NSW police forensic investigator told me that he would love to have everyone’s DNA on a database as solving crime would become a cinch. But then who would have access to the information? It is fine if all they use your DNA for is to check your identity, and at the moment we can’t tell much more than that with any certainty. But in a couple decades we will.
Certainly, there is the possibility of better security and there are all sorts medical advances that will come from understanding the function of genes and disease. And if you have a genetic test anytime, know that your DNA will be recorded on a database that one day could be accessed by that “someone” for a different reason.
As a society we need to decide how we use these technologies, but whatever the year the same questions apply. These include who is going to have access to your genetic or personal information and for what purpose? Who should have access? What should your rights be in this and how will they be protected? Who is benefiting: the individual, society, neither, both? How do we balance out an individual’s rights with societal benefit? One could also ask under what circumstances would you change your mind: War, peace, flu pandemic?
Personally, I have an issue with such a concept at the moment, but I think that so much of our future medical treatment will rely on knowledge of our personal genetic profile that it will be hard to avoid. Besides, we already have our DNA on a database of sorts, in the form of a few drops of blood taken at birth and stored on a Guthrie card. I just hope there are proper privacy measures in place when the technology arrives.
For some of the ethical issues in human genetics and genetic testing see Centre for Genetics Education fact sheets
Jason Major
Manager, GNTIS