U.S. authorities to start massive DNA gathering from population

clipped from www.newstarget.com The federal government is finalizing rules that would encourage the collection of DNA samples from everyone arrested by federal authorities, as well as any illegal immigrant detained by federal agents for any reason. A little-noticed amendment to last month's renewal of the Violence Against Women Act authorized this new, sweeping DNA collection policy. The amendmen was passed on a voice vote, meaning that no legislators had to go on the record as supporting or opposing it. What this does is move the DNA collection to the arrest stage," said Erik Ablin of the Justice Department. "The general approach is to bring the collection of DNA samples into alignment with current federal fingerprint collection practices." But lawyer Paul Neufeld, co-director of the Innocence Project, disputes the fingerprint analogy. "Whereas fingerprints merely identify the person who left them, DNA profiles have the potential to reveal our physical diseases and mental disorders," he said.