US Scientists Are Ready To Identify, Reunite Abducted Girls With Families By DNA Test

A group of scientists at the University of North Texas is ready to provide forensic DNA technology for free that could help identify and reunite with their families the more than 200 Chibok girls who were kid­napped by Boko Haram.

Speaking with AFP on Tuesday, the chairman of the depart­ment of molecular and medi­cal genetics at the University of North Texas (UNT), Arthur Eisenberg, explained that software already exists to match missing people with their relatives.

"It has been used worldwide to identify and re­turn more than 740 children who were trafficked, some across international borders," said Eisenberg who heads the UNT Center for Human Identification, the laboratory that works with a 10-year-old international program called DNA-Prokids, which aims to reunite families and deter human trafficking.

Most of all, forensic scien­tists in the United States and Spain say they are ready to help, free of charge. All they need to get started are DNA samples from family members of the lost schoolgirls. “We would do this absolutely for nothing,” said Eisenberg.

First, the girls’ family mem­bers: mother, father or another close relative could provide a DNA sample by swabbing the inside of their mouths with a cotton tip or giving a blood sample.

Then, Eisenberg said, he and colleagues establish DNA profiles of the families using a software system called M-FI­Sys (pronounced “emphasis”).
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