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China Is Collecting DNA from Tens of Millions of Men and Boys Using US Equipment

• downvoteme1 6y ago
  Us also does this to almost all newborns under the disguise of testing for genetic disorders. That’s about 4 million per year, almost the same number as China. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK132148/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK132148/
  • perl4ever 6y ago
    You say this as though one would not expect that testing for genetic disorders requires DNA collection.
    • deleted 6y ago
      [deleted]
    • redis_mlc 6y ago
      If testing was the only goal, then the DNA collected should be discarded. But we all know governments won't do that. We need CRISPR-as-a-service to periodically change our DNA as needed.
      • jryb 6y ago
        That's unfortunately not even remotely feasible for a number of reasons. There's no effective delivery mechanism for large-scale changes, efficacy is low even when a CRISPR system does get delivered to a cell, and there can be serious issues from both on- and off-target activity. These limitations will certainly improve as the technology advances but I can't imagine that there will never be a tradeoff. I would argue that the solution to this problem is regrettably not technical.
  • latrare 6y ago
    Do you have any evidence that this genetic information is being used for law enforcement purposes? What I read in that chapter you linked only covers that the tests are being done (for a legitimate reason). Not that I'd need much convincing; this is old hat for the US police state, which has police departments regularly scare parents into giving police their children's fingerprints.