In his letter, A West takes me to task for my reservations about links made - not by me, but by the director of forensic sciences at Scotland Yard - between fingerprinting in schools and the proposal that primary school children could be put on the DNA database if they exhibit behaviour indicating that they may become criminals in later life (Letters, March 26).

I certainly do not believe that it should be the role of the police in a free society to support the kind of genetic determinism that is the corollary of this view - a view which comes too close for my liking to some of those espoused by the now discredited eugenics movement popular at the beginning of the last century.

Mr West may be interested to know, with respect to the treatment of illness and disease, that Sir John Sulston, as acting head of the Human Genetics Commission, recently called for a new "landmark" measure to be introduced to outlaw unfair discrimination based on genetic make-up.

Since you published my letter, incidentally, it has emerged that one in ten children will be on the national DNA database by next year, including almost 50 per cent under the age of ten. This prompted the Shadow Home Secretary to comment: "Britain is witnessing the end of the presumption of innocence in our country, especially for our young people."

  • Stephen J Williams
    York Road
    Hove