ICELAND TO KEEP DNA RECORD OF ALL CITIZENS

(Associated Press) "An Icelandic company plans to begin collecting DNA samples from Iceland's 270,000 citizens and linking the genetic profiles with their health records and family trees. The database it plans to build would offer an unprecedented chance to discover genetic links to disease--and an unprecedented danger to privacy...'If information ever leaks out, people will sell it,' said Haile, one of the thousands of physicians and researchers in the audience. And there are other human rights issues that need to be worked out, said George Annas, chairman of the department of health law at Boston University. Among them: how to make sure people understand how their DNA is being used, how to protect the privacy of samples and data, and determining who owns DNA. 'This is the time when we really have to wrestle with this to make plans, not only in Iceland but the whole world,' said Dr. Francis S. Collins, who moderated the session and directs the international Human Genome Project, which is trying to map human DNA..."

-- Felix Helix (@ .), February 15, 2000

Answers

We at the Gattaca Corporation will keep all genetic records strictly private...

-- Mad Monk (madmonk@hawaiian.net), February 15, 2000.

We've been tracing disease in family trees for decades. To suggest that we (Iceland, or any nation) need a national DNA database to undertake this valuable research is ludicrous!

-- Hokie (Hokie_@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000.

Being that Iceland is in some senses, a near xenophobic country deeply concerned about keeping their Nordic bloodlines "pure", this doesn't surprise me. It's what they might do next that does.

I shudder to think if some future bunch decideds it's time to "cleanse the population" and return to the "Nordic ideal". Adolph just might be proud.

Iceland was the place that placed strict limits on the US military about the race and ethnic backgound of the US military personnel to be stationed there. It wasn't until late in the seventies that black servicemembers could be sent to Iceland.

And the local guys could get rather unfriendly towards GI's who they thought were getting "too close" to young ladies of the "purer family lines". Kinda like the worst of what happened in Southern states back in the fifties and sixties when the local ladies got too friendly with "them damn yankees".

I wonder how you say "rednecks" and "Aryan nation" in Icelandic?

WW

-- Wildweasel (vtmldm@epix.net), February 15, 2000.

raupurhfttu [redneck]

-- justme (justme@myhouse.com), February 15, 2000.

WW-was it in Iceland that "Scilla's Sense of Snow" was set or one of the other far Nordic countries? I guess the point is the danger in the misuse of information. I've worked in government for more than 30 years. During that time I've found the majority of government workers to be decent, timid people who are compliant and who keep their employment by simply following orders with little question. There is a very small group that fights perceived abuse and suffers enormous retaliation and either flees or eventually succumbs to the stress of a hostile environment. There is another small group of Neanderthal throwbacks who will employ any tactic to enforce compliance to directives from "top level" sources. Information Technology is shifting that power base as the governed gain access to knowledge, but we're still in transition. The DNA data base is an established fact: how it will be used will depend on enhanced awareness among the world's populations. It's simply a tool: it's up to us, as my friend the government hack would say, to see that it's used for good, not evil. Perhaps this will be the issue of the Millineum. It's certainly caught the attention of the Forum on more than one thread.

-- mike in houston (mmorris67@hotmail.com), February 15, 2000.

This is a new experience. I have never disagreed with Hokie on any major subject. The people of Iceland represent a special situation. The information that may be obtained would be important to people all over the world. But, I would agree with Collins that this must be handled well. The people of IL must be fully informed about the use of the data and the security of the data. They must also decide whether the genetic sacrifice that they must make for the rest of the world is justified. This is a new area. Tread carefully in new areas.

Best wishes,,

-- Z1X4Y7 (Z1X4Y7@aol.com), February 15, 2000.

Ja, iss ok. Ve are all cousins; all have same DNA you betcha.

-- (IngaborgLokidottir@Lutefisk.Lounge), February 16, 2000.

No problem! It's all for the children!

-- Sure (IsLongPast1984@Now.com), February 16, 2000.