Collecting Celebrity DNA is a No-No

For anyone hoping to make a dime or a few thousand dollars off of celebrity DNA either by selling their half-eaten food (Britney and K-Fed’s corndog anyone?) or hair, it will become illegal in the UK on September 1, 2006 to take a sample of someone’s DNA for analysis without their explicit consent.

The Human Tissues Act requires that anyone removing or storing body parts, organs or tissue must have prior consent. It will apply to everyone from medical scientists working on diseased tissues to surgeons removing organs from a recently deceased person or museums or exhibitions displaying human body parts.

More common than collecting a celebrity’s DNA, of course, are people who are surreptitiously collecting samples for paternity tests. Regardless, offenders can get a fine or three years in jail.

Guardian Unlimited, August 31, 2006

Update: cityrag points to Celebrity Skin and Bodily Fluids.