The four-way paternity dispute over late model Anna Nicole Smith's baby daughter is about to be settled using DNA testing. In Ireland, an increasing number of people are also turning to DNA testing to confirm a father's identity. Hélène Hofmanreports
While a paternity dispute as sensational as that surrounding Anna Nicole Smith's daughter may be out of the ordinary, using DNA testing to confirm the identity of a child's father is no longer that unusual.
In recent years, more companies offering tests have set up, driving prices down and making the service more accessible to the public.
Dr Stephen Murphy, a Dublin-based GP, has been facilitating DNA tests for 14 years, and recently completed a thesis on the availability and quality of DNA testing in Ireland.
"There are three groups of DNA testers in Ireland. There are two medical doctors who do it, about four-six medical lab technicians and then all of the others are internet tests," Murphy says.
"There's somewhere between 2,000 and 2,500 [DNA tests] done a year. That's judging by how many people are doing them, but there's no way of knowing exactly because we don't know how many internet tests are being done," he says.
DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid, contains a blueprint of our genetic make-up. A child's DNA is made up of a random and unique combination of its parents' DNA. Comparing the DNA sequence of one individual to another can determine whether they are related.
Testing involves taking cells, either through a blood sample or, more commonly, with an oral swab, from the mother, father and child and then testing to see if the DNA bands match. Children can be tested from birth.
Although the DNA samples are collected in Ireland, almost all are sent abroad for testing. There are also numerous internet-based companies, which provide a kit to enable you to take a DNA sample yourself and post it to the company for testing. These tests are usually cheaper, but Murphy warns that they are not as reliable and will not be accepted in court.
"Often a man doesn't want to upset the mother and will ask to do a test without her knowing. I always say point blank no. That's our training. Doing anything to a child under 16 without the consent of the mother is seen as battery.
"Usually the only way to do it without the mother is an internet test, but they can be so unreliable that the consequences don't even bear thinking about. Rolls Royce DNA testing is not cheap. There's a lot of rubbish out there and a less-expensive test might be one that's thrown out of court," says Murphy.
The law currently assumes that a mother's husband is the father of the child unless the contrary is proven. As a result, DNA testing may be used in a family law court to establish the identity of the father. The judge may also order a blood test to be carried out (although some courts may accept an oral swab test also).
An official test - that is both reliable and will stand up in court - involves going to a DNA testing centre or GP, and costs €500-€900. Test results are usually returned within a month.
According to records kept by Murphy, in about 75-80 per cent of cases the DNA test proves the man in question is the father. Surprisingly, he has also found that 20-25 per cent of his tests have been initiated by the man's mother.
Treoir, the national information service for unmarried parents and their children, has received so many requests for information on DNA testing that in the past 12 months the group has produced a Determining Paternityleaflet.
"The queries come from a whole range of people. You have couples with a baby, where the mother is unsure which of two people is the father and perhaps she wants to be sure before looking for maintenance.
"Then there is the case of the father who is paying maintenance for a child, but the child is growing up and doesn't look like him and he may start questioning if it's his," says Treoir chief executive Margaret Dromey.
"It's now widely recognised that establishing paternity is in a child's interests. They have a right to know who they are. We would advise anyone who is in doubt to get it checked out - there's no shame in having it established," says Dromey.
Biotechnologist Lucy Hooper, who set up DNA Ireland in Cork almost a year and a half ago, agrees that there has been more of an interest in DNA testing recently.
"The number of people looking for tests has been steadily increasing. I'd put this down to changing society mostly," says Hooper. "According to the Central Statistics Office [ CSO], one in three children are now born out of wedlock and that may be contributing. But also, I get a lot of people coming in mentioning programmes like CSI: Miami. There's a lot more talk about DNA testing in general and people are more aware."
The clinic carries out about 25 DNA tests on oral swabs a month. Of these one or two are relationship tests - where adults want to test their relationship to another adult, usually to prove their claim to an inheritance. The rest are paternity tests.
"For the official test we try to get all the people involved in the room at the same time, but this is not always possible because some relationships have broken down.
"In these cases we take the tests separately and take digital photos of the alleged father and a copy of his ID, which are then shown to the mother. It has happened in the past that the man has sent his brother or friend for the test so in our experience the photographs are necessary."
According to Hooper, tests are 100 per cent accurate if the man is excluded as the father. Where the test is positive it is 99.99 per cent accurate. "Human testing is a very specific and tight procedure," she says.
Parental Equality, the organisation lobbying for equal rights for fathers, estranged mothers and grandparents, wants DNA testing to be made more widely available.
"It's something that's become more regular over the years, but fighting to get a DNA test if the mother is unwilling is difficult. Children should be DNAed from the day they are born," says chairman Liam O'Gogáin.
"A mother always knows that she is the mother but for men there is an uncertainty. It means a lot of guys are getting off the hook but also in a case where you're going through a separation and trying to maintain access to a child, you want to be sure," he says.
"You don't want to find out a couple of years down the line that the child isn't yours - you can't do that to a child. Most men just want to know and it's a child's right to know who their father is - that over-rides any short-term sensitivities."
For more information and a list of DNA testing centres, visit www.treoir.ie, or locall 1980-252084.