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Two British men are due to appear before Strasbourg's European Court of Human Rights to try to get their DNA removed from the UK national database.
Both were arrested and DNA samples were lawfully taken. But the men were later cleared and have no criminal record.
Their lawyers will say that keeping the information infringes their right to privacy and anti-discrimination laws.
If the case is successful, tens of thousands of similar DNA records would have to be destroyed.
The UK national database is the largest in the world
World's largest
The DNA database, which covers England and Wales, currently contains around 4.5m profiles - routinely taken from criminal suspects after most arrests.
It is already the largest of its kind in the world but is controversial.
Since 2004, the data of everyone arrested for a recordable offence - all but the most minor offences - has remained on the system regardless of their age, the seriousness of their alleged offence, and whether or not they were prosecuted.
The convictions of killers Steven Wright and Mark Dixie owed much to the police DNA database.
Both were caught after samples taken from them in connection with other crimes were matched with those found on the bodies of their victims.
'No silver bullet'
Det Supt Stuart Cundy, who led the murder hunt which led to Dixie's conviction, has argued for a universal register holding the DNA of every UK resident.
He said such a tool would have enabled police to identify Mark Dixie within hours instead of months.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has also called for a debate on the issue, but the government has said a mandatory database is impractical.
Home Office minister Tony McNulty, responding at the time of Acpo's call, said it was not a "silver bullet" and it would raise practical as well as civil liberties issues.
"How to maintain the security of a database with 4.5m people on it is one thing. Doing that for 60m people is another," he added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7266130.stm
Both were arrested and DNA samples were lawfully taken. But the men were later cleared and have no criminal record.
Their lawyers will say that keeping the information infringes their right to privacy and anti-discrimination laws.
If the case is successful, tens of thousands of similar DNA records would have to be destroyed.
The UK national database is the largest in the world
World's largest
The DNA database, which covers England and Wales, currently contains around 4.5m profiles - routinely taken from criminal suspects after most arrests.
It is already the largest of its kind in the world but is controversial.
Since 2004, the data of everyone arrested for a recordable offence - all but the most minor offences - has remained on the system regardless of their age, the seriousness of their alleged offence, and whether or not they were prosecuted.
The convictions of killers Steven Wright and Mark Dixie owed much to the police DNA database.
Both were caught after samples taken from them in connection with other crimes were matched with those found on the bodies of their victims.
'No silver bullet'
Det Supt Stuart Cundy, who led the murder hunt which led to Dixie's conviction, has argued for a universal register holding the DNA of every UK resident.
He said such a tool would have enabled police to identify Mark Dixie within hours instead of months.
The Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) has also called for a debate on the issue, but the government has said a mandatory database is impractical.
Home Office minister Tony McNulty, responding at the time of Acpo's call, said it was not a "silver bullet" and it would raise practical as well as civil liberties issues.
"How to maintain the security of a database with 4.5m people on it is one thing. Doing that for 60m people is another," he added.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7266130.stm
