Scientists and Lawyers Argue For Open US DNA Database

Posted by Soulskill on Saturday January 9, 2010 @03:29AM from the they-must-have-caught-an-episode-of-csi dept.

chrb writes "New Scientist has an article questioning the uniqueness of DNA profiles. 41 scientists and lawyers recently published a high-profile Nature article (sub. required) arguing that the FBI should release its complete CODIS database. The request follows research on the already released Arizona state DNA database (a subset of CODIS) which showed a surprisingly large number of matches between the profiles of different individuals, including one between a white man and a black man. The group states that the assumption that a DNA profile represents a unique individual, with only a minuscule probability of a secondary match, has never been independently verified on a large sample of DNA profiles. The new requests follow the FBI's rejection of similar previous requests."

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FBI using outdated technology by Animats · 2010-01-09 04:55 · Score: 5, Informative

The FBI's database only uses 15 markers, checking 15 sites in DNA. That's not good enough, and there are false matches. The problem is that they're using DNA technology from about 1990.
23andme, the commercial DNA analysis service, checks 580,000 sites in DNA. 23andme probably has enough data to validate the quality of the FBI's marker selection. That's a good way to check. Identical twins do match, even at the 23andme level of analysis.
Re:chimps have 97% of human DNA by Anonymous Coward · 2010-01-09 05:44 · Score: 5, Informative

This innocent man:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cameron_Todd_Willingham
Was found guilty and executed by testimony from BOTH a mistaken expert witness and multiple eye witnesses.