A staff member from a high-tech company in Yancheng, eastern China's Jiangsu province, displays a gene ID card that the company has made for a young customer, on Wednesday, December 12, 2007. [Photo: yangtse.com]

A two-year-old girl in Yancheng, eastern China's Jiangsu province, on Wednesday became one of a few Chinese people to possess a gene identity card.

The Yangtse Evening News reported that the girl was brought by her parents to a local high-tech company, where a card carrying the girl's gene information was presented to the family.

The card, about 8 by 5 centimeters big, looks like an ordinary ID card printed with the young girl's photo, name and birth date. Besides that, it has an extra series number which the company claims to have produced based upon the recipient's 16 genetic loci.

The company says unlike voice or fingerprint tags, such gene codes are unique and are able to identify the holder, unless he or she has an identical twin, from the world's other six billion residents.

It comes in handy for parents to identify their child in case they are separated for a long time, the company said.

It takes about 10 days and 900 yuan (US$121.9) to make such a card.

In June 2002, a gene identification card with 24 loci debuted in southwestern China's Chongqing Municipality.