The Knesset Committee on Science and Technology, headed by Kadima MK Meir Sheetrit, has approved a bill to regulate testing to determine genetic family ties and other information at public and private laboratories around the country. The issue has been raised in the past when new immigrant families arrive and the parents must prove that the children are their biological children.

The law also differentiates costs for testing to be paid by a resident alien, or by a citizen -- an issue that is often relevant when a family is comprised of one parent who is an Israeli and the other is a foreign resident. In such an instance, according to the new law, genetic testing would be charged at the lower rate. The measure now goes to the Deputy Minister of Health, Yaakov Litzman, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.