What is the issue?

Though DNA fingerprinting technology has helped in solving many crimes, its efficiency is being suspected in the conviction of criminals

What is DNA fingerprinting?

• It is a technique for identification of an individual by examining their DNA
• DNA 0r Deoxyribo Nucleic Acid is composed of bases, (adenine (A), cytosine (C), guanine (G), and thymine (T)) , sugar and phosphate
• Two bases link to each other using hydrogen bonds to form basepairs
• Though 99.7% of the makeup is similar between any two people there is a 0.3% difference which accounts to almost 10 million different base pairs
• By examining this we can identify the relation between two people
• Blood, semen ,hair and teeth (with roots), , bones, flesh, saliva etc. can be used to study the DNA

DNA fingerprinting was first developed in 1984 by Alec Jeffreys in the UK

What are its uses?

• For criminal identification
• To resolve disputes of maternity /paternity
• To identify mutilated remains
• In cases of exchange of babies in hospital wards,
• In forensic wildlife
• Close to 60 countries have got the legislations on DNA profiling

Click here to learn about DNA Technology (Use and Application) Regulation Bill

What are the issues with DNA fingerprinting?

• Ecological impacts - Degradation of a sample  with prolonged contact to sunlight, humidity, and heat
• Unreliable results - Instrumental errors also lead to unreliable results
• Privacy issues - Sensitive genetic information of a person is exposed to another individual and it is against human rights
• Security concerns - DNA databases holding DNA profiles
• Lack of expertise - Leads to mishandling of samples
• Intermixing of samples - Corruption, tampering with evidence, misconception during labeling sample is possible
• Targeting of groups - If people from one ethnic group are more often convicted, they will be overrepresented and leads to targeting

How to address these issues?

• Acceptance by the legal fraternity and ensuring 100% conviction rate
• Legal framework for innocents is needed to allude the fears of DNA profiling in data collection and maintenance
• Stringent implementation of Human DNA Profiling Bill
• Experts have clarified that DNA profiling will not give out any details of background or identity of religion

Source: The Hindu