Church warns families against DNA tests
Only two DNA testing centres are certified in the country, according to the Ministry of Health.
What you need to know:
- According to Holy Cross Ministries, in the past, families used to raise children who totally didn’t belong to them and it was fine with them.
Holy Cross Ministries, a Catholic Church movement, has warned Christian families against taking their children for Deoxyribonucleic Acid (DNA) paternity tests.
Mr Fred Jenga, the Holy Cross Ministries president, said the current DNA testing trend, if not well handled, is bound to destroy families and relationships.
“The DNA situation is delicate. There is a lot of heat but please don’t destroy the marriages and the relationships that have existed between all different years and parties. And the children are innocent,” Mr Jenga said at the weekend in Kampala during a press conference.
He added: “All human life is a gift from God, it does not matter where life came from or how it arrived on earth. That life, whatever it is, has to be celebrated, protected because all human life comes from God.”
This comes after the Internal Affairs ministry revealed that the demand for DNA testing had gone up by 70 percent in the recent past.
According to Holy Cross Ministries, in the past, families used to raise children who totally didn’t belong to them and it was fine with them.
“We have raised children who are not even our relatives and you adopted them and became part of the family. Why don’t we find other ways of folding this kind of approach instead of going into chaotic situations like what we are seeing? Respect all life no matter how it came to be.” he said.
Early this month, Parliament directed the government to come up with a regulatory framework to guide and monitor DNA tests in the country.
Likewise, the Health ministry announced that only two labs have been allowed to carry out DNA tests. They are privately owned MBN laboratories and the Government Analytical Laboratory in Wandegeya.
