Biotechnology is one of the fields of science in which China wants to become a leader. Last year, China declared human DNA a natural resource that the state can dispose of. This has far-reaching consequences for pharmaceutical companies that are active in the country. Is the combination of a totalitarian regime, applied scientific research and rising nationalism a danger?

China has regarded human DNA as a 'natural resource' for two years now.

In principle, the state reserves the right to dispose of all materials that are stored in databases and labs.

Companies with more than half of foreign stakeholders must request permission to work with Chinese DNA.

“Iunderstand my work will be controversial, but I believe families need this technology. And I'm prepared to be criticized for this.' With those words, Chinese scientist He Jianku delightedly announced the birth of Nana and Lulu in a 2018 video. As if he were the father himself. In a way it was. The girls were the first children in the world to have their genes edited. As a result, the twins were no longer susceptible to HIV, the virus that causes AIDS.

IMAGINE AN anguished French father sneaking into a bedroom at night to snip a lock of hair, or cajoling an infant to obtain a trace of saliva or fingernail cutting. It may sound melodramatic, but there is evidence that thousands of Frenchmen are commissioning genetic paternity tests from foreign laboratories every year.

“It enabled me to move forward in my relationship with my child,” an anonymous father told France 2 television on May 28th. “If I hadn’t done it, I’d still be wondering whether I was the father.”

Paternity tests were banned in France 15 years ago. If French customs intercept DNA samples or results in the mail, the perpetrators in theory risk up to a year in prison and a €15,000 fine. The French Council of State upheld the law on May 6th, saying it did not want “to upset the French regime of filiation” and that the intent of lawmakers was to preserve “the peace of families”. On May 15th, the German Bundesrat adopted a similar measure.

Yet the tests are widely available on the internet, and are reportedly sold over the counter in the US.

If you google “paternity tests”, you’ll find 1,180,000 entries, the first of which offers a test in Dublin for €259 in five days.

Eight Walloon officials of the French Community know today whether they risk a prison sentence for covering up adoption fraud in Congo for years. The federal prosecutor's office is convinced they knew that "orphans" from Kinshasa who were adopted by Belgian parents had actually been kidnapped. The pivotal figure is lawyer Julienne Mpemba (47) who ran the orphanage for years.

On April 11, the Dutch government published its position and decision memorandum with various annexes ( more information here ). On April 12, Stichting Wereldkinderen, together with the other permit holders, spoke with the Ministry of Justice and Security. Stichting Wereldkinderen is happy and relieved that the Dutch government indicates in these documents that intercountry adoption will remain possible in the Netherlands in the future.

In the interest of the child, it is the hope of the World Children's Foundation that the Dutch government will quickly provide clarity regarding the resumption of granting permissions in principle, as indicated in the letter to the House of Representatives. That there will soon be more clarity with regard to the various proposals to change the current system. Without further details and planning, there remains a great deal of uncertainty for all involved.

The minister states in his letter that one thing is certain: 'the past does not equal the present and the system of intercountry adoption has improved in recent decades.' Stichting Wereldkinderen is happy to contribute to possible further improvements. The proposals in the letter and accompanying documents are a possible first step in the right direction. Whether the direction as now set out by the minister will lead to improvements compared to the current system will have to be shown from the as yet unknown details.

Stichting Wereldkinderen is pleased that there is more clarity and we would like to thank the minister for this. For questions, the Ministry of Justice and Security has compiled a 'FAQ' with telephone numbers. The official press release can be found here .

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It almost looks like a story from a movie, but it really happened to Rob: shortly after his birth in South Korea he was kidnapped by his aunt and given up for adoption. He told FunX how this could have happened.

ADOPTION STORY

For a long time, Rob and his adoptive parents had no idea of ??the bizarre adoption story that had taken place in South Korea. It wasn't until Rob went looking for his biological parents that the truth came out. "It's a difficult story," says Rob. He explains that his family has always been a little bit against his parents' marriage.

When his mother was pregnant, Rob's father left for the Emirates to work there. The moment the labor started - two months early - he couldn't just come back to South Korea. "He then said to his eldest sister: 'Listen, you are my eldest sister, you must look after my wife, because she is going to give birth." After Rob was born, he had to go straight to the incubator. His mother was in a coma at the time. "My aunt may have bribed the whole thing and ensured that I ended up in an orphanage and that I was sent away to the Netherlands as soon as possible when I was strong."

DECEASED DAUGHTER

(CNN)When Russian bombs started dropping on Ukraine in late February, a country singer half a world away in Nashville says he felt the panic of a parent whose child is in danger.

The 9-year-old boy who Scooter Brown and his wife, Vicki, had started the process of adopting was among those hiding in the basement of an orphanage in central Ukraine as three Russian missiles soared overhead and slammed into a Ukrainian military base about 60 miles away.

After that episode, the Browns took matters into their own hands.

Brown, a burly and bearded former Marine who fought on the front lines of Iraq in 2003 and whose namesake band has produced songs with titles such as "Guitars, Guns, and Whiskey" and "Wine Drunk," convinced a "special forces buddy" to join him overseas. They worked with a small Nashville organization run by another military veteran in an attempt to rescue the Browns' future adoptee and a handful of other kids; Brown's wife arrived later to provide additional support.

What followed was an erratic chain of events that started with Brown and his friend setting up a fortress of computer screens and whiteboards in a Polish hotel. From there, they said they fed associates the details they needed to pick up passports from a Kyiv apartment and to make a harrowing rescue of a woman connected with the orphanage who was trapped in a bunker.

Doubts have been raised as to whether the economy plays a role when municipalities choose to forcibly adopt children.

Lolland Municipality is responsible for more than half of the forced adoptions that the municipalities have sent to the National Board of Appeal at national level.

This year, the municipality has nominated seven children between zero and seven years for forced adoption, while at national level there are 13 settings.

Five forcibly adopted children can save the municipality four million kroner in 2022, shows a savings catalog from this summer, which DR Zealand has been given access to. The municipality saves the cost of a placement or institution.

This now causes the Danish People's Party's Karin Nødgaard, who is deputy chair of the Folketing's social, interior and children's committee, to ask a number of questions to Minister of Social Affairs Mai Mercado (K). It writes DR News.

After the blocking of funds from abroad, the Missionaries of Charity in India have once again been hit by bureaucratic red tape: the renewal of a state concession for the land on which a home that welcomes those abandoned by all has been denied. The Bishop of Lucknow: "A dangerous road has been taken against Mother Teresa's sisters. They attack Christians because they are a community that loves peace".

Lucknow (AsiaNews) - The Missionaries of Charity in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh,have been forced to close one of their homes for orphaned children because of an eviction ordered by the Indian Ministry of Defence. The New Year, which had already begun for the Sisters of Mother Teresa with the revocation of their license to receive donations from abroad, thus continues with another serious obstacle to their activity advanced by bureaucratic means in one of the more than 240 centers for orphans managed by the religiousin India.

On January 3, in the district of Kanpur, the Missionaries of Charity were in fact forced to suspend the activities of the local Shishu Bhawan, one of the homes where they welcome abandoned children in a gesture that everyone immediately associates with the memory of Mother Teresa.The eviction was ordered by the Indian State Property Office: the structure rises, in fact, on land that had been sold to a private individual with a 90-year concession that expires in 2019. It would then have been this private individual to cede it to the Sisters of Mother Teresa in 1968 to open the orphanage. Now, however, the office of the Ministry of Defense that manages state property does not want to renew the concession; and in addition, it also asks the sisters to pay a fine of 20 million rupees (about 240 thousand euros) for using the structure in the last two years. An economic threat that - together with the uncertainties caused by the blocking of donations from abroad - would have led the Missionaries of Charity to choose not to take legal action to resist the decision, handing over the structure to the State.

"In the last 53 years - recalls the Indian Catholic Forum - the Shishu Bhawan of Kanpur has welcomed and helped secure adoption for 1,500 children according to the rules of the law. It has also offered help to thousands of other poor people such as lepers, abandoned mothers, children of migrants working on construction sites. The State Office seems unwilling to see the selfless service offered by the sisters to anyone in need, regardless of caste or creed. The last 11 children who remained in the facility were transferred to the Shishu Bhawan in the cities of Allahabad, Varanasi, Bareilly and Meerut. But what will happen to the 1,500 families who adopted children from this center? For them this structure was like a Nanihal (grandmother's house), while for the orphans who grew up there and are now married, the Shishu Bhawan was the family home".

The bishop of Lucknow Msgr. Gerald Mathias commented to AsiaNews: "I am deeply saddened by this news. Had it been desired, the concession could certainly have been renewed since the sisters took care of orphans and abandoned, serving the poorest of the poor. Despite Mother Teresa's international fame, neither the government nor the army showed any understanding or support for this facility and were happy to evict her. The Missionaries of Charity in recent times have been targeted in Gujarat and Jharkhand; then came the revocation of the license for donations from abroad: these are all episodes that point to a dangerous path. They attack Christians because they are a peace-loving community. We can only hope that common sense will prevail and the situation will improve.

NEW DELHI (CNS) — The Missionaries of Charity congregation has been forced to shut Nirmala Shishu Bhawan, a home for orphaned, destitute and abandoned children in Uttar Pradesh state, after its lease expired. The Defence Estates Office demanded $250,000 from the nuns for trespassing.

The closure came on the heels of the federal government’s refusal to renew the congregation’s Foreign Contribution Regulation Act registration for foreign donations to carry out its charitable works across the country.

Ucanews.com reported India’s defense establishment claimed the Uttar Pradesh home was built on its land, for which the lease had expired in 2019. It claimed the Missionaries of Charity were trespassers and would have to pay penalty charges or face eviction.

Sister Prema Pierick, the congregation’s superior general, felt it prudent to surrender to army authorities and handed over peaceful possession of the home to the Defence Estates Office Jan. 3, Ucanews.com reported.

The 11 remaining children, most of whom were severely handicapped, were relocated to other Shishu Bhawan homes, said Chhotebhai, convener of the Indian Catholic Forum who has been closely associated with the orphanage since its inception.

She was four months old when she was adopted from India by a childless couple in the Groene Hart. Undoubtedly with the best intentions, thinks Mariël Vos from Gouderak, but according to her it turned out completely wrong.

“They were both mentally handicapped and worked in sheltered employment. They couldn't handle raising a child. Nowadays, placement in such a family would really no longer be possible, but it happened then. With all its consequences."

Uncertain

Mariel is working on a book about her eventful life. It also extensively discusses her time in a foster family in Waddinxveen. She has also recently started speaking at meetings for social workers in foster care and (future) foster parents. She still has a very good relationship with her own foster mother. He confirms the story of the Gouderakse to this newspaper.

I used to be locked in the shed in the garden. Then I once screamed so loud that neighbors warned the police and the ball started rolling