NHS plan to DNA test all babies at birth

[Spartacus]

BBC News - NHS plans to DNA test all babies to assess disease risk
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1ljg7v0vmpo

I'm in two minds about this , on one hand it may help eliminate life changing illnesses as a child grows up, providing the gene therapy is available and free to all.

On the other hand, the unexpected consequences could be that the data is sold / shared or lost and if insurance companies get it they could increase premiums or refuse cover due to the higher risk. Equally if an employer gets it, could they discriminate based on likelihood of needing more time off? 

If the data is anonymous and secure, possibly not a problem but even the NHS was hacked recently. 

Years ago I watched Gattaca , where a similar system resulted in upper class "perfect" citizens and the underclass of the "Imperfect"  and whilst it was fiction, this could be how it starts 🤔

https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/

[Moovart]

Worth reading The Age of Diagnosis by Dr Suzanne o Sullivan which has a chapter discussing pros and cons of genetic diagnosis.  Sometimes it's better not to know.

[Spartacus]

Still, I suppose another advantage is everyone's DNA will be on file so the police can solve more crimes 🤔

[hpsaucey]

Insidious - even more deeply personal info saved, shared etc. . Finding it quite sinister myself. NHS has already got involved with dodgy Palantir.

 

HP

[malumbu]

Like assisted dying lets have a proper debate and process in both houses.

 

Edited June 21, 2025 by malumbu

[Spartacus]

 A debate in both house and the public right to opt out would be a good solution 

Edited June 22, 2025 by Spartacus

[Earl Aelfheah]

It's an interesting one. My instinct is that it's probably a good idea in principle, but in practice, the devil is all in the detail. Need to be really rigorous protocols in place to make sure that it's properly secure, anonymised, cannot be passed on to any third parties etc. 

Edited June 23, 2025 by Earl Aelfheah

[Moovart]

2 hours ago, Earl Aelfheah said:

It's an interesting one. My instinct is that it's probably a good idea in principle, but in practice, the devil is all in the detail. Need to be really rigorous protocols in place to make sure that it's properly secure, anonymised, cannot be passed on to any third parties etc. 

I suspect that will be impossible and if the data is held in an NHS system, I think it will definitely be impossible.  I don't believe it would be the likes of Apple or Meta in terms of IT security.  If I were having a baby now I think I would opt out.