§ 49. Mr. Peter Bruinvelsasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department what information he has on the new techniques developed at Leicester university for forensic identification of bodies; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. Giles ShawThese techniques enable parts of the genetic sequence of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) isolated from human tissue or blood to be analysed in detail. The probability that two people exhibit the same genetic sequence is so remote that the sequence can be regarded as unique to an individual (other than an identical twin) and can therefore be used for identification purposes (the DNA fingerprint). The Home Office forensic science service is studying these techniques and has applied them to other body fluids and dried stains. The use of these techniques for forensic purposes is at an early stage but shows great potential.