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Guthrie Cards - Australia's DNA Database

Posted by michael on from the drop-in-the-bucket dept.

bobo12345 writes "There was an interesting show (transcript here) on ABC TV's (Australia) Catalyst on Guthrie Cards - paper filter cards containing blood spots from almost every Australian born since 1970. These samples are routinely taken and stored in hospitals to screen for diseases like Cystic Fibrosis. Australian police have accessed the DNA database without consent in the past, successfully prosecuting an unpleasant incest case. This led to the destroying of all Guthrie Cards by the hospital whose original cards were obtained under a search warrant. Makes you wonder where your genetic material is stored, and which authorities have access. No alien DNA has been discovered on the Guthrie Cards (yet)."

22 comments

  1. Re:FIRST POST!?! by djcapelis · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    Sectionals don't have the same response patterns, if this were a front page story...

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    I touch computers in naughty places
  2. This comment would have been offtopic: by FroMan · · Score: 0, Offtopic

    No dinosaur DNA has been discovered on the Guthrie Cards (yet).

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    Norris/Palin 2012
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  3. Brr... by Noodlenose · · Score: 1

    Sounds more like a storyline from the X-Files.

    1. Re:Brr... by bobo12345 · · Score: 1

      that's exactly what I thought.

      hence the line: "No alien DNA has been discovered on the Guthrie Cards (yet)."

  4. Curious... by spumoni_fettuccini · · Score: 4, Interesting

    How many other hospitals [in differant nations]have this practice and if the Red Cross keeps a sample, along with all of your personal information they aquire when one donates blood. It would seem to be a really easy thing to accomplish.

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    -- Some days you're the dog; some days you're the hydrant.
  5. Unpleasant...incest case...? by cbiffle · · Score: 2, Funny

    > Australian police have accessed the DNA database
    > without consent in the past, successfully prosecuting an
    > unpleasant incest case.

    Oh! Well then. As long as they're not prosecuting PLEASANT INCEST CASES.

    C'mon, 'unpleasant incest case' is like 'disposable condom' -- it's redundant, and it makes you shudder thinking about the alternatives.

    1. Re:Unpleasant...incest case...? by clonebarkins · · Score: 1
      Oh! Well then. As long as they're not prosecuting PLEASANT INCEST CASES.

      On Jerry Springer the other day (Memorial Day) there were two sisters who came out to their mother that they were sleeping together. That sort of thing isn't my cup of tea, and from the sight of them just imagining the act was very unpleasant, but they seemed pretty happy with themselves.

      --

      "The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it." -- Ayn Rand

    2. Re:Unpleasant...incest case...? by blerg · · Score: 1
      C'mon, 'unpleasant incest case' is like 'disposable condom' -- it's redundant,

      You mean I have to buy a new one every time?!

    3. Re:Unpleasant...incest case...? by slittle · · Score: 2, Informative
      As long as they're not prosecuting PLEASANT INCEST CASES
      It probably has something to do with this:
      Detective Sergent Gary Fraser: This case is the worst case that I have been involved in - involving incestuous behaviour - very extremely tragic where the father targeted his biological daughters and there's actually been children fathered by the biological father.
      Which kind of elevates it from "eh, freaks" status to "CASTRATE THE BASTARD" (and that's just the Detective's use of "Double Plus Ungood" grammar, let alone the 'father').
      'disposable condom'
      IIRC, they used to be reusable. And also really thick... I guess back then the only 'suitable' material was plain old rubber..?
      --
      Opportunity knocks. Karma hunts you down.
    4. Re:Unpleasant...incest case...? by TekPolitik · · Score: 1

      C'mon, 'unpleasant incest case' is like 'disposable condom' -- it's redundant, and it makes you shudder thinking about the alternatives.

      Bad example - the original condoms were washable and reusable.

    5. Re:Unpleasant...incest case...? by Alsee · · Score: 1

      I guess back then the only 'suitable' material was plain old rubber

      No, rubber condoms are fairly "high tech". They used to be made out of animal intestines. Actually you can still get that kind if you look for them. They work for preventing pregnancy, but they are are not fully effective against disease. They are especially poor against viruses.

      -

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  6. Who was Guthrie? by mattsucks · · Score: 1

    For my edification, who was the Guthrie after which the cards were named? When I first saw the article I thought "Why the hell would Woody be involved in something like that?"

    1. Re:Who was Guthrie? by mbogosian · · Score: 1

      For my edification, who was the Guthrie after which the cards were named? When I first saw the article I thought "Why the hell would Woody be involved in something like that?"

      Actually, I think it was Arlo. After he changed his name to Chrysler, they needed a way to keep track of him. They've been doing the same for everyone else since.

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      moto411.com
    2. Re:Who was Guthrie? by mikecheng · · Score: 3, Informative

      Guthrie did work with work into PKU (PKU=Phenylketonuria. An inherited human metabolic disease that is characterized by inability to oxidize a metabolic product of phenylalanine.) and related diseases.

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      Cool, but useless.
    3. Re:Who was Guthrie? by Tackhead · · Score: 3, Funny
      > For my edification, who was the Guthrie after which the cards were named? When I first saw the article I thought "Why the hell would Woody be involved in something like that?"

      Well, we got there and we had a warrant, and we figured one big pile of DNA samples on Guthrie cards was better than 5000 little piles of DNA samples at each hospital, so rather than send ours down, we decided we'd bring everybode else's up. That's what we did.

      Drove back to the police station, had a Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat, went to sleep and didn't get up until the next morning, when we got a phone call from ABC's Catalyst show. He said "Officer, we found your name on a box containing half a ton of Guthrie cards and we just wanted to know if you had any information about it!"

      You can get anything you want from the hospital's DNA.
      You can get anything you want from the hospital's DNA.
      Walk right in, they're around the back,
      Underneath the floor by the server rack,
      You can get anything you want from the hospital's DNA...

  7. Alright I'll bite. by Kedyn's+Crow · · Score: 2, Insightful

    It's a truly bad and evil thing that crimes are being solved, wouldn't want that to happen anywhere else.

    I still don't understand why some people think that a crime committed by one individual against another is the worst thing that can happen. When the government abuses the people it is supposed to protect the results can literally be a million times worse. Think about how much worse things would have been if Hitler had access to this kind of information.

    You don't own your DNA, you are just borrowing it from the human race.

    Sure, and you don't "own" your fingerprints either. But their is a difference between the police collecting fingerprints for a particular investigation and the government mandating that everyone be fingerprinted.

    --
    "The moment "pride" is lost, "freedom" is also lost." - Ramza.
    1. Re:Alright I'll bite. by henrygb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      There is a difference between the police collecting fingerprints for a particular investigation and the government mandating that everyone be fingerprinted.

      Yes, but neither is as bad as the authorities keeping a partial set of fingerprints or DNA from past investigations.

      The real issue is that of false positive matches without true positive matches. This is low if the authorities do not keep information over time - since they will only test a small number of suspects each time. It is also relatively low if they have a complete database of the population - they will get false positives, but since they will probably also get the true positive, any match will not be used as conclusive proof. But with a large partial database (as happens now) the chance of a single positive being found, and that positive being false, becomes much higher.

  8. Dubious motives by Chagatai · · Score: 1
    Here in Colorado, USA, when my daughter was born four months ago, she was required by law to have a genetic screening test for phenylketenuria (PKU). This test involved blood being drawn from her heel and placed on a card. One test is done a day or two after birth, the other another two or three weeks later. Reading things like this makes me wonder if samples are used for other reasons in addition to determining PKU. I haven't heard if the cards were destroyed after the test results came back. Boy, it sure does start the X-Files part of the imagination going...

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    --Chag
  9. Some twins are freaks by poptones · · Score: 1
    No lie, I dated one... and a couple of times, both.

    A father raping daughters is tragic; lesbian sisters snugglin' on the couch is just plain hot. Stop watching springer and do some steppin' out.

    1. Re:Some twins are freaks by clonebarkins · · Score: 1
      lesbian sisters snugglin' on the couch is just plain hot

      Caveat: hot lesbian sisters snugglin' on the couch is just plain hot. Like those freakin' chicks in the beer commercials. grrrrrrrrrrrrr!

      --

      "The evil of the world is made possible by nothing but the sanction you give it." -- Ayn Rand