http://heliolith.com/archives/2004/11/28/this-wont-hurt-a-bit/ The easiest way to avoid wrong notes is to never open your mouth and sing. What a mistake that would be. - Pete Seeger Thu, 20 Nov 2008 22:33:42 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 http://heliolith.com/archives/2004/11/28/this-wont-hurt-a-bit/#comment-201 Tue, 30 Nov 2004 16:51:44 +0000 http://heliolith.com/archives/2004/11/28/this-wont-hurt-a-bit/#comment-201 About a year or two ago, I went to an NYU law forum where a speaker presented the audience with a thought experiment pertaining to this very topic. The ultimate problem with government run DNA databanks is that there are no real checks to the power weilded by the agents who run these banks. One potential path is a Minority Report-type scenario, in which people who possess certain genes, for example a "pedophilia gene" (there have been studies and even court cases; see Kansas v Hendricks), will be arrested before they even commit a crime. If this seems too outlandish and improbable (like the idea of a DNA databank might have a decade ago), then consider the actual breast cancer gene that many women carry. They may or may not develop the cancer later in life, but with a databank like this one, insurance providers would have access to that information and might treat them the way they treat HIV positive individuals now--by jacking up their insurance costs and considering them "high risk" patients. Ostensibly, they could do the same for people who were determined to have the homosexuality gene. It's a frightening prospect with very little safety or balance. I hope the ACLU wins. About a year or two ago, I went to an NYU law forum where a speaker presented the audience with a thought experiment pertaining to this very topic. The ultimate problem with government run DNA databanks is that there are no real checks to the power weilded by the agents who run these banks. One potential path is a Minority Report-type scenario, in which people who possess certain genes, for example a “pedophilia gene” (there have been studies and even court cases; see Kansas v Hendricks), will be arrested before they even commit a crime. If this seems too outlandish and improbable (like the idea of a DNA databank might have a decade ago), then consider the actual breast cancer gene that many women carry. They may or may not develop the cancer later in life, but with a databank like this one, insurance providers would have access to that information and might treat them the way they treat HIV positive individuals now–by jacking up their insurance costs and considering them “high risk” patients. Ostensibly, they could do the same for people who were determined to have the homosexuality gene. It’s a frightening prospect with very little safety or balance. I hope the ACLU wins.

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