Dear Editors,

The arguments for a comprehensive national DNA databank in the interests of combating crime, terrorism and illegal immigration are overwhelming. It will come eventually, I am sure, but the way things look at the moment, only after a major terrorist attack causes public opinion to demand it (DNA database being built by stealth, say civil rights groups, 26 June 2003).

If a serious crime were committed in my street and the police suspected the culprit to be a local resident, I, and I am sure most other people, would be only too willing to offer our DNA in order to eliminate ourselves from the investigation. We'd be queuing up in our eagerness to have the crime solved and the culprit removed from our midst.

The professionally trumpeted concerns relating to privacy and misuse are much exaggerated. They need to be taken seriously, of course, but can be dealt with relatively easily; and besides, they pale into insignificance compared with the concerns we should have relating to the threat posed by serious crime and terrorism (I cannot help being a little suspicious of the motives of some of the so-called "civil rights" activists).

The biggest obstacle to establishing a national DNA database is the stigma still attached to anyone having their DNA profile stored in the current database. Understandably, because it is primarily a database of criminal profiles.

The best way to counter this is for the government to establish a separate "voluntary" DNA databank and to encourage ordinary people (especially men, of course) to offer their DNA for profiling and storage.

Instead of running scared and being ashamed of the association with actual and suspected criminals in the current DNA databank, people could then be proud to have it known that they are in the "voluntary" DNA databank, that they have nothing to hide from the law, and are actively helping the police do their job.