China Sets up DNA Database

China sets up DNA database for child trafficking
Updated Saturday, May 2, 2009

BEIJING -- China is setting up a DNA database to combat child
trafficking, the Ministry of Public Security said. The database will
include DNA from the parents of abducted children.

Samples will also be taken from children who are suspected of having
been abducted or vagrant children with an unclear history, a notice
posted on the ministry's Web site Thursday said. China has a thriving
black market in girls and women who are sold as brides, as well as
babies who are abducted or bought from poor families and sold to
couples who are childless or want more children.

The country also has a traditional preference for male heirs that is
particularly strong in rural areas, resulting in the trafficking of
boys. Some families also sell their girl babies in order to try for a
boy, since the country's one-child policy limits most families to
having one baby.

China's police hope to have 236 DNA laboratories sharing information
about missing children by the end of May, the notice said. In 2006,
police uncovered a total of 2,500 human trafficking cases in the
country, according to the Ministry of Public Security.

But international groups say the number could be in the tens of
thousands.