科技英语新闻:Database of DNA reunites families

Zhang said the platform works because DNA is more durable than a child's appearance or memories of families and home villages, which can fade in the years after a child is abducted. Moreover, it transcends provincial borders.

"Distraught parents in one province might not know some children were rescued elsewhere. Now they just have to wait at home after leaving their blood samples," Zhang said.

The past two years have seen a major role for the database, but she expects more parents in remote areas to go to the police to leave blood samples.

"Some farmers have weak legal awareness and don't know what DNA is," she said. "With the popularization of knowledge of the database, the possibility of matches will rise."

Zhang said the government should continue to toughen measures to tackle the scourge of child trafficking.

"On the one hand, the buyers' market, which is the source of the problem, should be blocked.

"On the other, the police should tighten penalties for traffickers. The cost of breaking the law is very low if they are only jailed for three or five years," she said.