Scientist calls for DNA database

Prof. Chakraborty, who works at the University of North Texas, was speaking at a talk organised by the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics on ‘DNA Databases and Human Identification’ in the city on Monday. The Human DNA Profiling Bill was proposed eight years back in India and has not been introduced in Parliament. There have been many concerns about the bill in the country. The main concern is invasion of privacy and the high costs of maintaining the infrastructure required for the DNA database. In the US, around $16 million (about Rs 100 crore) is sanctioned every five years for maintenance of the DNA database.

Speaking on the concerns Prof. Chakraborty said, “The DNA database’s utility justifies the expenditure on it. The database can be used for solving crimes like human trafficking and to identify bodies. Recently three children trafficked from China and Taiwan to Nicaragua and were disfigured could be tracked using DNA profiling.” Regarding privacy concerns he said, “Safe-guards can be introduced like the three-tier security system in the US to ensure that no one in power gets easy access to the database.” The Indian DNA bill has safeguards and punishments for those who breach them, he said. As of now in India around 3,000 DNAs are profiled every year of which around 50 per cent is done by CDFD.