DNA Identifies Missing Children

DNA LifePrint recently gave away free kits to parents wishing to prepare a missing child identification kit. As I’ve mentioned before, police now encourage parents to always keep a sample of the child’s DNA, fingerprints, hair including the root, and a current picture. The same information could be useful for identifying missing adults as well, such as those affected by crime or Alzheimer’s disease.

Here’s why DNA is better than footprints or fingerprints:

The footprints of a child taken at birth are of no values for identification purposes. Not only because they are unreadable but the foot print of the child changes as the child develops. In a recent study as much as 80% of children’s fingerprints taken at fairs, malls and by parents are not legible enough for identification purposes. And as much as 30 % of our armed forces fingerprints are not legible for identification.

You can also collect your family members’ DNA using a paper envelope and cotton swabs. See this post for more information.

Have you preserved DNA samples from your family and yourself? Take the poll in the sidebar to your right!

The Island Packet, September 10, 2006

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