Clause 46 - Offences relating to non-consensual analysis of DNA
Human Tissue Bill
10:45 am
Mr Andrew Lansley (South Cambridgeshire, Conservative)
I am happy to accept the hon. Gentleman's point. It is an interesting one, but I cannot explore it further now. However, we may need to explore it once we have had the benefit of the Minister's response.
Those are the underlying purposes of the amendments. The only general point that I would make is that considerable concern has been expressed about the developing practice in medical genetics. When considering the process of DNA analysis, and the extent to which offences are created in relation to it, we want to know how it will relate to current practice. It seems to me that we have established elsewhere the principles of consent flow into DNA analysis, but it may cause problems for those engaged in medical genetics when linking consents to subsequent treatments for sets of related individuals, even those related on a rather tenuous basis.