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Paternity testing business thrives, consumers pay big

Results have major consequences in life of family, child.

Over-the-counter paternity tests are big sellers

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By Jim DeBrosse, Staff Writer Updated 10:26 PM Sunday, March 28, 2010

Who’s your daddy?

The answer can have a major impact on a child’s life, including custody, inheritance, Social Security and veterans benefits, health insurance coverage and family medical history.

That’s why the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University urges anyone considering the use of a paternity testing service to check out its credentials first. “It is imperative that laboratories perform the tests accurately and reliably,” the institute said in a 2008 policy brief.

Tens of thousands of curious Americans are turning to paternity testing offered by clinics or directly to consumers through the Internet or over-the-counter kits at drugstores, allowing customers to collect their DNA in the privacy of their homes and mail the samples to a laboratory.

However, there is no mandatory certification of such labs under federal law, the institute warns. Voluntary accreditation is offered through the American Association of Blood Banks (AABB), which checks the quality and operation of the labs, including their methods of collection, testing, distribution and administration.

The institute further cautions consumers that “the results are usually inadmissible in court due to the chance of surreptitious DNA collection or false identification of the tested individuals.”

Executives at Identigene, the only over-the-counter paternity testing kit sold in drugstores, agree that consumers should find out if a paternity testing lab is accredited by the AABB, as is theirs.

But for consumers willing to pay an extra fee and visit one of their clinics for sampling, test results can be admissible in a court of law, Identigene officials say.

“For legal cases, Identigene will track the DNA samples from the time they are collected at one of our DNA collection sites until the time they arrive in our DNA testing laboratory,” said Jacob Moon, a spokesman for Sorenson Genomics of Salt Lake City, makers of Identigene. Results are available within three to five business days, Moon said.

Identigene partners with a nationwide network of DNA specimen collectors, he said. When someone purchases the retail kit and then decides to have the test done for legal purposes, there are instructions included in the packaging telling them how they can have the test done by a third party by calling Identigene.

Identigene charges $30 for the over-the-counter kit plus $119 for the lab analysis. For the “legal” option, customers pay an additional $200.

Dennis Turner, a professor at the University of Dayton law school, agreed that consumer paternity tests could be admissible in court as long as there are witnesses willing to testify to the accuracy and honesty of each step of the process, from collection through testing and the delivery of the results.

“If you can connect all those dots, you can authenticate,” he said.

In most cases, consumers buying paternity tests are looking primarily for “peace of mind” or to head off legal action that could cost them hundreds or even thousands of dollars, Moon said.

Paternity testing is carried out on DNA samples — such as blood, cheek cells or other tissues — taken from the child, the possible father and, for greater accuracy, the mother. Consumers must have the consent of the child’s legal guardian in order to collect the child’s cheek swab for Identigene, Moon said.

Steve Ritter of Dayton believes he saved himself and his adult son thousands of dollars in legal costs, and a lot of heartache in the future, by paying $149 for the Identigene kit and regular lab fee. His son’s girlfriend agreed to the test and to honor the results after the birth of her baby, he said. The test showed that his son was not the child’s biological father.

“It gave us the control to find out the truth in two weeks rather than three years later having a judge decide it” in court, he said.

Mary White, a professor of ethics at Wright State University Boonshoft School of Medicine, said families must also consider the impact the paternity test will have on a couple’s relationship, and the future of the child.

“It’s curious how little value we assign to family cohesion,” she said. “If the relationship between the two is a priority, and the child someone to be valued and nurtured, is forgiveness an option?”

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2437 or jdebrosse@Dayton

DailyNews.com.

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