For fathers and mothers who have been living in uncertainty for a while, it is their worst nightmare: falsified test results. Is it possible to falsify paternity test results? How reliable are paternity test results? In this blog, we’ll find out how reliable these tests actually are.
Getting someone else to do the test
When the possible father of the child is ordered by the court to take a court dna test, it sometimes happens that the possible father tries to get around this by submitting someone else’s DNA. If you mix up the DNA with that of a stranger it will of course affect the outcome. That is why there is an extra check for the tests ordered by the judge, so that they are 100% sure that the test is done with the DNA of the possible father.
DNA of the mother
What if the child’s mother submits her DNA as that of the possible father? Could there then be a false positive match? No, this is impossible. This is because while examining the DNA, you can see the gender of the person who submitted the DNA. The laboratory can therefore immediately see that something is not right. Nevertheless, there are still women who try this. In such a case, the test is annulled and the lab requests a new legal paternity test.
Other alternatives
Besides asking a stranger or providing DNA from the mother, are there other ways to falsify the test? For example, can you eat or drink something special that is going to have an effect on the test result. The answer to that, of course, is no. A DNA test cannot be falsified by consuming certain products. However, food or drink can affect the quality of the DNA sample. That is why a legal paternity test often has certain rules that you, as a potential father, have to abide by. For example no alcohol for at least 24 hours.
Conclusion
In short, falsifying a paternity test is almost impossible. The mother of the child cannot submit her own DNA sample, and food or other substances cannot influence the results of the test. The only possibility of falsification would be to swap your DNA sample, but this is also very difficult. Especially if the paternity test is taken for legal reasons because it will require a ID cart to take the sample.