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A coffee can have
consequences
far beyond a
caffeine high
WHEN Ann Chamberlain-Gordon
suspected that her husband was
cheating, she took his underwear to her
place of work – a police forensic lab in
Lansing, Michigan.
Her husband, a former professional
in the Canadian Football League,
denied infidelity, but at a divorce
hearing in March 2007, Chamberlain-
Gordon testified that she had found
female DNA on his underwear that did
not match her own.
The opposing attorney quickly
turned the tables on the forensic
scientist, however, accusing her of
misusing state equipment by running
the tests. The Michigan State Police
agreed, and Chamberlain-Gordon was
fired a few months later.
If she had instead sent the underwear
to a DNA testing company, such as Test
Infidelity of Chatsworth, California,
rather than taking matters into her
own hands, Chamberlain-Gordon could
have kept her job. “If you suspect your
partner is being unfaithful, you can
send in a pair of his or her underwear
to test for the presence of another
person’s genetic material,” Test
Infidelity’s website promises.
If Chamberlain-Gordon had
suspected a particular woman and
obtained her toothbrush, say, the
company could also have analysed
DNA from that to look for a match.
Test Infidelity is just one of dozens
of US companies offering to test DNA
taken without the knowledge of the
people concerned. Many firms
advertise infidelity testing services or
BEWARE THE RESULTS
Do stealthy infidelity and
paternity DNA tests produce
accurate results? You
would hope so, given their
emotional consequences.
But minimal regulation and
oversight mean such tests
may be unreliable.
Many of the companies
running stealthy tests are
accredited for paternity
testing through a voluntary
scheme run by the
American Association of
Blood Banks (AABB) in
Bethesda, Maryland. But
this accreditation applies
only to tests on DNA
collected using standard
methods such as cheek
swabs, and handled with
a chain of custody that is
robust enough to stand up
in court. The AABB gives no
guarantee that the firms’
testing of “abandoned”
DNA is accurate, nor does
it condone the practice.
“Companies cannot
affiliate those tests results
offer “discreet” paternity tests. These
allow a man to determine whether he
is the father of a child without letting
anyone else know what he is up to, or
a woman to tell whether a man is the
father of her child without involving
him in the process.
While the total number of stealthy
DNA tests being conducted is unclear,
interviews with genetic testing
companies indicate that thousands
are being run each year in the US alone.
In the UK, such tests are already
illegal. But though some US states have
passed laws that arguably might outlaw
aspects of infidelity or discreet
paternity testing, extensive enquiries
by New Scientist have uncovered no
evidence that they have been used
against firms running these tests.
This regulatory vacuum raises
serious privacy issues, say legal experts.
“Even if you are talking about someone
engaged in behaviour that you may find
dishonourable, this doesn’t mean that
person should be automatically stripped
of all privacy,” says Gail Javitt, law and
policy director with the Genetics and
Public Policy Center in Washington DC,
part of Johns Hopkins University.
The results of paternity and infidelity
tests can tear families apart. So firms
that test DNA without consent could
cause real harm – especially to
vulnerable children. “The emotional
consequences are not something that
anybody is going to forget,” says Denise
Syndercombe-Court , who runs a DNA
testing lab at Barts and The London
School of Medicine and Dentistry. >
with their accreditation,”
says Nikki Bass of the AABB.
Customers might think
some do, though. For
instance, Chromosomal
Laboratories of Phoenix,
Arizona, displays a
prominent notice saying
“AABB accredited” on a
web page that suggests
ways to collect abandoned
DNA for paternity testing.
Meanwhile, some other
firms offering stealthy tests
have no AABB accreditation.
24 January 2009 | NewScientist | 9
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