The UGR Sets Up An International Project For The Genetic Identification Of Disappeared Children

The UGR Sets Up An International Project For The
Genetic Identification Of Disappeared Children
Main Category: Genetics News
Article Date: 27 Nov 2006 – 0:00am (PST)
| email this article | printer friendly | view or write opinions |
Incorrect identification of people – especially
children – or the lack of it creates a series of
legal problems in civil law. Unfortunately, this
also happens in criminal law, in which crimes
such as traffic of human beings and false
adoption, together with sexual and economic
children exploitation, are universal concerns.
Such concerns are particularly frequent in
developing countries, but they are also
present in the developed world when
adoptions – both legal and illegal – take place.
The most affected areas are Latin America,
Africa and Southeast Asia.
Today, the technology developed in the field
of DNA identification (genetic identification)
enables authorities to carry out a correct and
unequivocal identification of any person, both
by direct comparison with themselves
(reference samples) and by comparison with
their parents, especially with their mother.
Having full operational capability and proven experience in the field, the
University of Granada (Universidad de Granada (http://www.ugr.es) has set
up PRO-KIDS, a programme intended to create, at a first stage, two civil
and voluntary DNA databases containing, on the one hand, DNA from
mothers of disappeared children and, on the other hand, DNA from
children identified as rootless, without relatives, victims of illegal adoptions
or of sexual or economic exploitation, etc.
Once both databases are created their contents will be crossed and, when
there is a match, relatives will be informed of the childs whereabouts.
Furthermore, complete confidentiality of the results is guaranteed, as well
as more than 99.99% reliability, thus meeting the possibilities currently
offered by science.
After Mexico and Guatemalas support to this project, PRO-KIDS will be
extended to other Latin-American countries, Africa and Asia. Brazil has
already shown its interest in endorsing the genetic database.
Professor Lorente, head of the UGR http://www.ugr.es Genetic
Identification Laboratory, said that PRO-KIDS represents a scientific and
professional challenge showing that scientific progress can have an
immediate social benefit. It is regrettable, he added, that we know about
the traceability of the food we eat and, however, if we find a child who has
been illegally adopted, we cant get him to his parents. This scientific
programme has been designed to put an end to this situation.
Professor Lorente Acosta is the UGR coordinator in the Fénix project, the
first experience of the like in the world, in which the University of Granada
jointly works with the Spanish Security Forces so as to identify disappeared
citizens thanks to a programme similar to PRO-KIDS. He is also a visiting
lecturer at the American FBI and has worked with Chile, Argentina and
Guatemalas governments in the identification of the disappeared during
the dictatorships and of Christopher Columbus remains.
About the UNIVERSITY OF GRANADA – COMMUNICATIONS
DEPARTMENT
The University of Granada (UGR) was founded in 1531, under the initiative
of Emperor Charles V. In this way, Granada asserted its vocation as a
university city, open to different cultures, peoples and beliefs, continuing
the tradition of the Arab University of Yusuf I (Madrassa, 14th century).
With 475 years of tradition, the University of Granada has been an
exceptional witness to history, as its influence in the citys social and
cultural environment grew until it was to become, over a period of almost
five centuries, an intellectual and cultural nucleus in Southern Spain in its
own right. The University of Granada has also made a strong commitment
to its future by fostering the development of quality research, whose
guiding criteria are to stress traditional lines of research, to support
Descargar