DNA to match lost children
Technology is cool. But it is even cooler when technology is used for a humanitarian purpose that helps some someone in ways that was never possible before.
This morning, I heard this great story on NPR about how DNA matching is helping to match children from El Salvador with their parents.
During the wars in El Salvador, the warring factions used to kidnap children. For fear of these kidnapping, a number of children were given up for adoption. In addition, a number of children were stolen.
California Department of Justice has a DNA crime lab that is used for collect, store and analyze DNAs from felons. The same lab, after hours is being used by a number of volunteer scientists to match DNA from children of El Salvador descent and parents in El Salvador that lost their children during the war. The scientists went to El Salvador and collect DNA samples by collecting scrapping from the insides of the cheeks of the parents. Once the database is formed, it will be transferred to El Salvador. The scientists are getting close to some early successes.
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