It seems that the discussion about specimen tracking is getting a little side-tracked.

The issue is not _whether_ technology exists that can be use to track specimens.

The issues are:

- How to afford it? (There are those who argue that it can be afforded; others argue that it can not be afforded, in some circumstances at least.)

- How to achieve _community-wide_ information/data sharing through coordinated, mutually agreed upon community standards for doing so? (Again, no one is arguing that it can't be done, but simply how best to achieve it.)

These are the underlying issues that were being discussed. Peter