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A "citizen's inquiry" instigated by the Human Genetics Commission (HGC) also called for the details of people who have been acquitted of crimes to be removed from the database.

The conclusions will fuel controversy about the ethical foundations of the database, which now contains the genetic profiles of more than four million people, representing the highest proportion of any population in the world.

The information has been a boon for detectives but its rapid

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growth has caused unease, with concerns arising that future governments could abuse the information.

"There is clearly a balance of good and harm. We all acknowledge the advantages but we can also see that, if we run too loose, we may cause collateral damage," says acting HGC chairman and Nobel prize winner John Sulston.

Cold cases

The proposal to delete DNA records is likely to be opposed by police, on the grounds that it could make it more difficult to solve past crimes, or "cold cases".

But it was backed by the chairman of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Albert Weale, who says the DNA of innocent people is largely irrelevant to such investigations.

"Figures on the number of cold cases that have been solved are often used to support the retention of unconvicted people's DNA," he says.

"However, the Home Office admits that almost all of the offenders convicted under the cold case programme have proved to be persistent and prolific violent criminals, whose DNA would be on the database anyway."