The national government does not plan to take any measure that affects the operation of the National Genetic Data Bank, a risk that deputies from opposition blocs warned about, including radicalism, taking into account the wording of the Bases bill.
Presidential spokesperson Manuel Adorni assured, minutes before the opinion of the so-called omnibus law began to be discussed in the Chamber of Deputies, that its provisions do not imply “neither modification nor closure of anything” with reference to the BNDG.
In response to the proposal expressed by the head of the UCR bench, Rodrigo De Loredo, Adorni emphasized that “it is not in the government’s plans to take any measure, and the Bank will continue to function as it has been doing.”
The BNDG was created by law in 1987, during the government of Raúl Alfonsín, and has been playing a central role in the reconstruction of the identity of appropriated children during the last dictatorship. “Thanks to their work, today we have many grandchildren who were able to know their parentage,” stated the radicals.
Specifically, the National Genetic Data Bank is the public and systematic archive of genetic material and biological samples of relatives of people kidnapped and disappeared during the Argentine military dictatorship.
It serves to identify biological links between people who suspect they are children of people who disappeared during State Terrorism and their families of origin. Its analysis consists of the study of the nucleotide sequences (units that constitute DNA) found in human chromosomes.
Regarding the reliability of its results, the probabilities of paternity, brotherhood or grandparenthood are high enough to practically confirm or rule out a genetic link.
The National Committee of the UCR had stated that “among the organizations subject to potential dissolution by the National Executive Branch is the BNDG. This arises from the majority opinion of the Bases Law, which in its article 3 does not explain the future situation of the Bank, putting its existence at risk,” warned the National Committee of the UCR.
And he anticipated the will to “defend the BNDG on the Campus, honoring our most precious values. To this end, we appeal to the historical responsibility of all national legislators. “Respect for human rights – those of yesterday, those of today and those of tomorrow – must be a commitment of all democratic forces.”
