Coming to a drugstore near you soon very likely will be a kit for around thirty bucks that can determine the paternity of a child by some simply saliva swabbing from the mother, the alleged baby daddy (like my pop culture reference there?) and the child.  Apparently someone decided there’s a market for this?  Honestly it’s kind of shocking to me how cheap the kit is, especially considering these types of tests are usually court ordered.  I mean, aren’t pregnancy tests a good starting point?

Well, the sales of this new product brought to market by a genomics firm have actually taken off quite well at Rite Aid stores where they are available so far, in California, Washington and Oregon.  But it’s not just the typical Jerry Springer types of situation you might be thinking of (I’ll admit, I’m guilty of that judgment too), but it’s also for families who have long speculated about the definite paternity of a child, even if they’re now an adult, and have had their curiousity satisfied as to who is going to be the father in their family tree. 

Of course the do it yourself paternity tests are not without their critics.  Some question the morality of finding out such a profound piece of information in such a cheap, simple way, and even might question the total accuracy of the testing.  Also, they say there is no FDA supervision on this type of test yet, so they are worried about the limited amount of consumer protection.  That’s of course not going to stop people from buying them out of simple curiousity though.

Also, I’m wondering how this would work if this were an estranged situation.  How would you get the saliva samples from all three people involved, the child, father and mother?  It seems a bit complicated, and I’m trying to picture situations where all three can happily sit together without any awkwardness, but apparently these types of situations are more plentiful than I realize.