Israel to set up genetic database after adoption scandal

Israel's parliament is to set up a genetic database to provide some scientific answers to a controversy that has been running for decades.

Blood and saliva samples will be taken from hundreds of families who claim that their babies and toddlers were taken from them during the early years of the state and handed over or even sold to childless Ashkenazi (of European origin) survivors of the holocaust. In addition, people who suspect that they were illicitly taken for adoption may undergo testing, and geneticists will try to match them …