Category Archives: DNA

Frozen food maker Birds Eye on Friday said it would withdraw some products in Britain and Ireland after it found traces of horse DNA in one of its ready meals sold in Belgium.

"Regrettably, we have found one product, chili con carne, produced for us by Frigilunch N.V. and sold in Belgium, that has tested positive for horse DNA at 2 percent," Birds Eye said in a statement.

"As a precautionary measure in the UK and Ireland we will withdraw all other products produced by the same supplier, namely traditional spaghetti bolognese (340g), shepherd's pie (400g) and beef lasagne (400g)."

Birds Eye, which is owned by Pinnacle Foods in North America and by private equity group Permira in Europe, said it would also immediately withdraw the chili con carne product from sale in Belgium.

The discovery of horse meat in food labeled as beef has triggered product recalls and damaged confidence in Europe's vast and complex food industry. The scandal erupted last month when tests carried out in Ireland revealed that some beef products also contained horse meat.

Birds Eye added that the withdrawn products would not be replaced on supermarkets shelves until it had completed an investigation into the issue and had complete confidence in Frigilunch N.V.

It said tests showed its beef burgers, beef pies and beef platters sold in Britain and Ireland did not contain horse DNA.

Go here to see the original:
Birds Eye recalls UK products after horse DNA find in Belgium

By JESSICA GRESKO Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) A Maryland DNA law being challenged in the U.S. Supreme Court helped lead to 43 convictions over the past four years, but state data shows the majority of the convictions could eventually have happened even without the new law.

For years, Maryland required people convicted of serious crimes to provide a DNA sample. The sample, taken from a swab of saliva, was then compared against a database of DNA evidence from crime scenes, and some old cases were able to be solved. Maryland changed its law in 2009, however, so that people had to provide the saliva sample when they were arrested on charges of committing certain violent crimes before going to trial.

The change is at the center of a U.S. Supreme Court case being argued Tuesday. Opponents say the law violates a persons constitutional right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. But supporters of the law, including Maryland Gov. Martin OMalley and Attorney General Douglas Gansler, say taking DNA from arrestees is an important law enforcement tool used by 27 other states and the federal government. They say it is no more invasive than taking a persons fingerprints.

Law enforcement has been taking fingerprints forever, Gansler said in a telephone interview Friday.

The state has now taken more than 33,000 DNA samples as a result of the expansion. Those samples have led to 73 arrests and 43 convictions, with sentences ranging from probation to life in prison. The majority of the convictions were for burglary or theft; seven were for rape or sex offenses.

But 29 of the convictions could have happened even if Maryland hadnt extended its law to arrestees, according to state data. Thats because those people were ultimately convicted of the offense for which their DNA was taken. Their DNA would have been collected even under the old law, though law enforcement would have had to wait until after their conviction.

For example, William Edward Burton III was arrested after being accused of attempted murder and rape. Officials took DNA and matched it to a rape that happened in Massachusetts from 1995. But because Burton ultimately pleaded guilty in the first case, his DNA would have been collected and would have ultimately led officials to the Massachusetts rape.

The attorney who prosecuted Burtons case, Elizabeth Ireland, said taking DNA from arrestees is still important because many cases dont end like Burtons.

Not all arrestees are convicted, especially when its a crime like a rape. Rape is one of the most under-reported and under-charged crimes, said Ireland, who also prosecuted the case that is before the Supreme Court.

Follow this link:
Md. DNA Law In Front Of SCOTUS Aided 43 Cases

ROME/ZURICH (Reuters) - Italy's Health Ministry said on Saturday that tests had found no trace of horse DNA in minced beef meals by Swiss food giant Nestle that were removed from sale on Monday.

Nestle removed the ready-made beef ravioli and tortellini sold under its Buitoni brand from shelves in Italy and Spain and halted production of the meals after its own tests had found more than 1 percent horse DNA in the products.

Italian authorities seized 26 tons of affected beef products on Thursday after Nestle withdrew the meals - the latest company to become embroiled in the scandal that has highlighted the complexities of Europe's food chain.

"No trace of horse DNA has been found in Nestle cooked and frozen minced beef," the ministry said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear what the outcome was of the tests of the food seized in Spain.

The Italian tests were carried out on beef products that had been stored at the Safim plant near Turin, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Italy also ordered the seizure on Saturday of about 6 tons of frozen beef lasagne made by Italian group PRIMIA after tests showed the presence of horse meat, an official with Italy's NAS, a police unit that monitors health and safety standards, told Reuters.

A Nestle spokesman welcomed the ministry's decision to release its products.

"We are happy the ministry's tests came back negative," spokesman Chris Hogg said in an email to Reuters.

"Our focus now though is on restarting production of these products today and tomorrow with a new supplier, using beef we have tested to ensure it contains no horse DNA."

Here is the original post:
Italy finds no trace of horse DNA in Nestle mince meals

Osmania DNA on blasts - TV9
Osmania DNA on blasts For more content go to http://www.freetv9.com Follow us on facebook at http Follow us on twitter at twitter.com

By: tv9telugu

Read more here:
Osmania DNA on blasts - TV9 - Video

A skull found a year ago by hunters in the woods is that of a disabled girl who was killed and dismembered by her stepmother, North Carolina police said Thursday.

DNA tests show it was Zahra Baker's, but Hickory Police Chief Tom Adkins said investigators are still unable to say how the 10-year-old died. Adkins said he and other law enforcement officers who spent many months searching for the girl had "mixed emotions" about knowing for certain that it was her remains.

"It brings up the tragedy of Zahra's death and the life she lived before she was killed but it also gives us and the community a sense of finally bringing her home."

Said Caldwell County Sheriff Alan Jones: "She will be in our memories for the rest of our lives."

The Zahra Baker case captivated the attention of communities here and in Australia, where she had lived before her father, Adam Baker, moved to the United States to marry Elisa Baker.

Elisa Baker is serving up to 18 years in prison. She pleaded guilty in 2011 to second-degree murder with aggravating factors that included desecrating Zahra Baker's body.

Zahra Baker, who wore a prosthetic leg and hearing aids after a struggle with bone cancer, was reported missing in October 2010 from her home in the western North Carolina town of Hickory.

Parts of her remains were found in multiple sites around Hickory shortly after her reported disappearance. But her skull wasn't found until last year.

It was examined by investigators with the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation and N.C. Medical Examiner's Office using a DNA profile used for the prosecution of Elisa Baker.

Zahra's death was caused by "undetermined homicidal violence," medical examiners said.

Read more:
DNA confirms skull that of NC disabled girl

HTC Droid DNA vs HTC One - Exclusive Bench-Mark Forever...!
HTC Droid DNA vs HTC One - Exclusive Bench-Mark Forever...!

By: usman khan

Read more:
HTC Droid DNA vs HTC One - Exclusive Bench-Mark Forever...! - Video

Published: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 11:58 p.m. Last Modified: Wednesday, February 20, 2013 at 11:58 p.m.

WINTER HAVEN | Detectives used DNA evidence to arrest a 50-year-old man accused of sexually battering a 3-year-old boy at a home day care operated by the man's wife, the Polk County Sheriff's Office said.

Detectives said Carroll Gardner battered the boy on Aug. 17 at Kat Gardner's 24/7 Daycare, which was run out of the couple's home on Seventh Street in Winter Haven.

The boy's mother told detectives that she picked up her two children that afternoon and asked her son how his day had gone. The child told her Gardner had touched him inappropriately, reports said.

A sexual assault kit was completed and DNA evidence collected from the boy was sent to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement.

On Dec. 28, lab results indicated foreign DNA was found and a warrant was obtained to collect DNA from Gardner on Jan. 14. On Tuesday, detectives learned the DNA collected from Gardner matched the foreign DNA found on the child, the Sheriff's Office said.

Gardner was arrested on a charge of sexual battery and is being held in the Polk County Jail without bail.

The Department of Children and Families was contacted after the incident. Gardner's wife told investigators she had planned to close the business before the incident and subsequently surrendered her license. The business closed Aug. 21, the Sheriff's Office said.

[ Clifford Parody can be reached at clifford.parody@theledger.com or 863-802-7516. ]

Read more:
DNA Leads to Arrest of in Daycare Sex Battery Case

21 February 2013 Last updated at 16:44 ET

Traces of horse DNA have been found in a frozen burger within a school kitchen in North Lanarkshire.

Procurement agency Scotland Excel has, as a result, advised Scotland councils to "place a hold on the use of all frozen beef burger products".

It is the first such discovery following widespread local authority testing resulting from the discovery of horsemeat in the UK food chain.

The Food Standards Agency has been advised and "investigations continue".

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said: "It is unacceptable that a burger which has tested positive for traces of horsemeat was supplied to a school in North Lanarkshire.

"However, North Lanarkshire Council have taken immediate action to withdraw the product from the schools and, as a precautionary measure, all Scottish schools have been advised to put a hold on the use of frozen burgers.

"Of the thousands of tests, this is the first positive result in our schools, but it is one too many.

"No company should be supplying our schools with food with beef products that contain traces of horse meat."

A Scotland Excel spokeswoman said it is "very concerned to learn of this incident despite the steps taken by our suppliers to provide assurances on their processed meat products".

View original post here:
Horse DNA found in school burger

When Alonzo King was arrested for assault in 2009 after pointing a shotgun at several people, authorities had no reason to think he was also a rapist.

Then officials swabbed his cheek at the Wicomico County, Maryland, booking facility and ran his DNA through a nationwide database. The check linked King to an unsolved 2003 rape.

Now Kings conviction for the rape is set for argument next week at the U.S. Supreme Court, which will consider whether Maryland is violating the Constitution by collecting DNA samples from people arrested for serious crimes before they're convicted. The courts ruling, due by June, will be its first on the privacy of genetic information and will determine the fate of laws in at least 25 states that allow DNA collection at arrest.

If the Supreme Court rules in favor of Maryland in this case, there will be no real limits on when the government can collect DNA, said Jennifer Lynch, a lawyer with the San Francisco-based Electronic Frontier Foundation, which opposes the collection laws. She said that would be a huge privacy invasion.

Maryland argued in court papers that DNA gives police an invaluable investigative tool -- the gold standard of forensic identification. Backers of the practice point to cases where DNA collection upon arrest might have prevented additional crimes.

One of those advocates is Jayann Sepich, whose daughter, Katie, was raped and murdered in August 2003, when she was a 22- year-old graduate student at New Mexico State University. Police werent able to identify the killer, Gabriel Adrian Avila, until December 2006, after he was convicted and imprisoned for breaking into a house with a knife in an unrelated crime.

Jayann Sepich says Avilas DNA could have been collected in November 2003, when he was arrested for the break-in. While Avila was convicted in 2004, he was released on bail before beginning his sentence and fled to Mexico. Not until Avila was arrested again in 2006 was his DNA tested, connecting him to Katie Sepichs murder.

We got a bad guy and put him in prison, said Sepich. We could have done it three years sooner.

Sepich now works full-time to advocate for DNA laws. She helped persuade the New Mexico legislature to enact what became known as Katies Law, allowing for collection from anyone arrested for a violent felony.

Privacy advocates say there are more effective ways to get DNA to solve crimes that don't raise constitutional concerns.

Originally posted here:
DNA Privacy Gets First U.S. Supreme Court Test in Rape Case

Brick By Boring Brick vs. DNA (Flipped) - Paramore vs. Little Mix (Mashup Remix)

By: Builibou

See the original post here:
Brick By Boring Brick vs. DNA (Flipped) - Paramore vs. Little Mix (Mashup Remix) - Video