Originally Posted February 1, 2007
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Purpleaura's dream about blood, women and war posted in the 59423 blog sounds an awful lot like this article she found today:
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If you plan to donate to a local blood bank, be warned. Your blood may not be the only thing that gets collected:
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For the first time, the Puget Sound Blood Center will begin collecting, testing and storing the DNA of blood donors.
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Donors may opt out of the program, part of a study funded by the Defense Department to develop better ways of identifying blood types. And the Blood Center is firm that the effort will be limited to that purpose and not shared with the government.
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Even so, privacy watchdogs worry that this latest move is just part of an increasingly long list of governments and other agencies that are storing people's DNA coding -- with few laws overseeing its use.
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There's also this interesting tidbit: "Stored DNA will be labeled with a code that doesn't directly identify the donor."
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Well that certainly sounds secure. It's not like anyone could screw up and distribute private information to the public. Oh wait…
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The story doesn't make it clear if other blood banks in the country are doing the same thing. If you've heard of something similar in your neck of the woods, drop a line in the comments.
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And check out our previous Bodyhack coverage of genetics and privacy:
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Blood center to collect DNA of donors [Seattle Times]
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http://www.godlikeproductions.com/bbs/message.php?messageid=337520&mpage=&sho...=
.
Purpleaura's dream about blood, women and war posted in the 59423 blog sounds an awful lot like this article she found today:
.
If you plan to donate to a local blood bank, be warned. Your blood may not be the only thing that gets collected:
.
For the first time, the Puget Sound Blood Center will begin collecting, testing and storing the DNA of blood donors.
.
Donors may opt out of the program, part of a study funded by the Defense Department to develop better ways of identifying blood types. And the Blood Center is firm that the effort will be limited to that purpose and not shared with the government.
.
Even so, privacy watchdogs worry that this latest move is just part of an increasingly long list of governments and other agencies that are storing people's DNA coding -- with few laws overseeing its use.
.
There's also this interesting tidbit: "Stored DNA will be labeled with a code that doesn't directly identify the donor."
.
Well that certainly sounds secure. It's not like anyone could screw up and distribute private information to the public. Oh wait…
.
The story doesn't make it clear if other blood banks in the country are doing the same thing. If you've heard of something similar in your neck of the woods, drop a line in the comments.
.
And check out our previous Bodyhack coverage of genetics and privacy:
.
Blood center to collect DNA of donors [Seattle Times]
.
http://www.godlikeproductions.com/bbs/message.php?messageid=337520&mpage=&sho...=
.
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It is my belief TPTB are looking for specific DNA from specific bloodlines or perhaps identify those that reside here who are not of this planet. Donating blood is a noble undertaking indeed, but I sure don't like the sounds of this. Same with the National Geographic Genographic project. Sure it might be fun to find out you were one of the millions descended from Genghis Khan, but what if you were one of the others? What then?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.
It is my belief TPTB are looking for specific DNA from specific bloodlines or perhaps identify those that reside here who are not of this planet. Donating blood is a noble undertaking indeed, but I sure don't like the sounds of this. Same with the National Geographic Genographic project. Sure it might be fun to find out you were one of the millions descended from Genghis Khan, but what if you were one of the others? What then?
