Medical Progress

5 Myths About Paternity Testing

When a woman does not know who the father of her child is or is being challenged as to paternity then a paternity DNA test becomes extremely important. Parental testing is generally defined as the use of genetic fingerprinting to determine whether a particular man is the biological father of a child. There are certain myths associated with this testing. Here are five of them.

• The test is expensive – The truth is the test is not at all expensive especially when there is only a specific child in question. There are several affordable paternity test kits that can be easily used at home. However something that needs to be taken into consideration is the result of a home paternity test is not considered legal in court.
• A paternity test is painful – In the past it was a tad bit painful because blood was collected for testing purposes but nowadays a type of swab is used to collect genetic material from the inner cheeks of those involved and this has made the test painless.
• Privacy will be at risk – Since the professional labs conduct the test with utmost privacy the only people who get to know the result of the test is individuals involved or the Court of law. However if a Child Support agency is involved for any reason the agency may have to make the results public.
• The test cannot be done during pregnancy – A paternity test can definitely be done during pregnancy but certain risks are involved. Therefore it is always better to go for the test after the child is born.
• The test cannot be done if the potential father is unreachable- The paternity test can be conducted using the paternal DNA from one or both the potential fathers family.

Comments are closed!