According to a notice recently issued jointly by the Chinese Ministry of Health and State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, organizations or individuals should apply to authorities for a permit to take, mail or transport human genetic materials out of China.

Those who take or send human genetic materials out of China without authoritative permission will face legal penalties and punishment, said the notice.

Human genetic resources, which include human genome, human organs, tissues, cells and blood, are essential to pharmaceutical and health care industries.

China has a vast population and a host of ethnic groups. The country has issued in recent years a series of regulations and relevant laws to protect its plentiful human genetic resources.

Meanwhile, the notice also specifies the tightened management of the inflow and outflow of other special materials used for medical purposes, including human materials, pathogenic animalcule and scientific samples.

(Xinhua News Agency October 10, 2003)