Tanzanian parliament passes DNA bill into law

DAR ES SALAAM, April 23 (Xinhua) -- The National Assembly of Tanzania has passed into law the Human DNA Bill 2009 to enable the country to collect, store, transport and test the DNA specimen in the process of identification and other research areas.

The parliament passed the bill in a session held in Dodoma on Wednesday.

With the new law, the DNA application will be supervised and administered by the governmental chief chemist's office which is entitled to create a national DNA database.

Tanzanian Health Minister David Mwakyusa explained to lawmakers in Dodoma that though the technology had been in use for a while in the country, the law would enable the government to control its use.

"It is now important that good control mechanism is put in place to avoid any possible misuse of the (DNA) technology by some crooked people," the official said.