When kidnappers attacked a woman on a Guatemala City street and seized her baby daughter, DNA testing came to the rescue. The tests helped reunite the girl with her mother after the baby was left at a religious center with no identification.

DNA testing has also helped connect legally adopted children with their biological parents and immigrants in the United States with their families.

Now the technology is being used to bring together families separated at the U.S. border with Mexico.

However, activists working for migrants say that using genetic tests in this way creates technical, legal and even moral problems. Leading migrant rights groups have been rejecting offers by companies to donate testing supplies for free.

Genetic tests have helped an organization called DNA-Prokids reconnect more than 1,000 children with their families in Mexico, Nepal and several other countries. They also reconnected the mother with her kidnapped daughter in Guatemala City.

Jose Lorente, a professor at the University of Granada in Spain, started the organization. Lorente said he was moved by the children he saw on the streets in cities around the world. Many were victims of trafficking and had parents who were looking for them.

Lorente said he hopes to set up a worldwide network of DNA testing laboratories to help children everywhere.

Aliqismet BADALOV,
“Khalq qazeti”