DNA - did Lynne really say this?

I hope not - and I know how badly the media can mangle the real message of what people say by selective quoting...

DNA database chaos with 500,000 false or misspelt entries - Independent Online Edition > UK Politics:

Lynne Featherstone, the Liberal Democrat MP for Hornsey and Wood Green, called for an urgent investigation and questioned why so much inaccurate information was on the system.

"If the database is to be of any use, then it has to be accurate. DNA data is open to abuse and this could allow people who mean no good to do no good. The more failsafe the police regard DNA, the easier it is to set someone up," she said.

This database, accurate or not, is open to abuse. The way the data is collected is abhorrent, from children and uncharged adults who have likely done nothing wrong or where the evidence has not been able to show they have done anything wrong. Our message is that it should be scrapped. Not merely tidied up.

Our DNA is part of us as individuals. Holding samples of it is false imprisonment. It should be subject to habeas corpus. There can be no truck with this illiberal nonsense.

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Jock - Lynne's views on DNA have featured several times on her website and blog. This article probably is the best summary:
http://www.lynnefeatherstone.org/column104-dna-database.htm

Oh - okay.  Looks mostly good.  I'd scrap the whole lot personally.  Or at least could only hold DNA while a criminal had unspent convictions.  But maybe even the concept of "unspent" has now gone?

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