Putin signed a law on the creation of a unified database of genetic information

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed law, providing for the creation in Russia of the National Database of Genetic Information. The head of state spoke about the need to create it back in 2020, noting that success in the field of genetic research depends on digital technologies and access to data arrays.

In accordance with the document, “genetic information” means the sequence of nucleotides in nucleic acid polymers, and “genetic data” means information about the genetic information of various biological objects, presented in a form suitable for obtaining, systematizing, accumulating, storing, clarifying, using , dissemination and destruction of such information.

The creation of such a base is due to ensuring national security, protecting the life and health of the population. The owner of the information in this database is the Russian Federation, its customer is the Ministry of Education and Science, and the operator is the National Research Center (NRC) “Kurchatov Institute”. The document emphasizes that the provision of information from this database to authorities, legal entities and citizens will be carried out in electronic form and free of charge.

The law comes into force on September 1, 2024.

The author of the bill, which was previously described in detail wrote Vedomosti, chair of the Federation Council Committee on Science, Education and Culture Liliya Gumerova and First Deputy Chair of the State Duma Alexander Zhukov spoke.

As Gumerova noted earlier, the law is not about the human genome, but about “economically demanded gene pools of plants, animals, microorganisms.” Centralized storage of genetic information will make it possible to provide “an inventory of gene pools, assess the dynamics of changes in the selection potential of the Russian Federation, and form a monitoring system for the use of genetic technologies,” she said.