The Benefits Of DNA Fingerprinting

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This source was extremely reliable as it was developed and published by encyclopedia Britannica who are highly credited for their well written and professionally polished articles. They authors are extremely knowledgeable and experienced on the subject which therefore makes this a reliable source.

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This article is mainly background information on DNA and how DNA fingerprinting works. It gives the scientific reasoning and techniques used throughout the process. It begins to give concerns about DNA fingerprinting however does not give an opinion behind it, leaving this article completely unbiased.

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The biggest benefit involves assisting criminal cases with adequate evidence to support the charges. DNA evidence could be a crucial time saver for forensic scientists. If everyone’s DNA is already stored in the database, it will be really easy and quick to be able to find a match to a piece found at the scene (Health research funding, 2014). Another benefit for DNA fingerprinting is that human remains are able to easily be identified and brought home to their families. It is reasonably common for DNA finger printing would make laboratory procedures available and tremendously efficient as they could easily get a DNA source and compare it straight away to the database. Furthermore, DNA fingerprinting is attractive due to the ease of paternity testing. Due to everyone gaining their DNA from their mother and father, this would help to identify ones paternal and maternal links. This could be extremely useful in cases such as legal matters regarding adoption, parenting issues, or adopted children searching for their biological parents. DNA fingerprinting is a very attractive and promising option states Brendan McGuigan (2007 p.1) with Rajagopal Sukumar (2006) affirming 'the potential benefits far outweigh the risks. …show more content…
The leading concern of holding everyone’s DNA fingerprints on the database is the privacy of individuals and their personal rights. Your DNA contains all of your genetic information including being susceptible to certain diseases and if anyone were to gain access to this for example your insurance company, this could lead to discrimination. Although DNA evidence can be exceedingly helpful in a criminal case and can lead many cases to be solved, DNA can also be planted which then can lead to innocent people being convicted. If DNA fingerprinting was to be implemented, then the impact of the DNA will become even stronger than it already is. As it is already swaying judges extremely strongly, if this becomes easier to access it will be almost undeniable. However, this can have many negative impacts including planting of DNA, which then can lead an innocent man to be convicted.

As discussed, there are many positives and negatives to DNA fingerprinting babies as they are born. The positives include assisting in criminal investigations, identification and paternity testing. Whilst the negatives include privacy issues that could occur due to hackers and how they could use your DNA and could also be inaccurate which could possibly put an innocent person in jail. This topic has been extremely controversial, with many different opinions coming into play, which is why a decision is still yet to be

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