Zhang Nan (pseudonym), the father of a 3-year-old boy in Nanjing, capital of East China's Jiangsu Province, noticed his son was looking different from himself as the boy was growing up.

Gossip from neighbors and continuous arguments with his wife prompted him to resort to a DNA paternity test, which he had seen advertised on television.

He found that legally authorized testing agencies required mountains of paperwork and his wife's consent. Zhang hesitated. He wanted to do the test behind his wife's back in case he was actually the father.

Zhang searched for a "paternity test" on the Internet and found scores of websites advertising "professional DNA paternity tests," with fees ranging from 850 yuan (US$106.25) to 5,000 yuan (US$625).

Zhang mailed strands of hair and toothbrushes both he and his son used to a Shanghai-based online testing service. A week later, Zhang was notified that he was not the father. He filed for divorce.

The couple went to court. With a court order and signatures from husband and wife, they went to a State-approved testing agency so that the result would be eligible in court. Again the test proved Zhang was not the father and so finally they divorced and Zhang received compensation.

GROWING BUSINESS

"DNA paternity tests are no longer confined to the legal field," said Wang, director of an online paternity test service.

"More and more Chinese men who doubt their wives' fidelity choose unauthorized test providers which are personal and convenient, free from endless form-filling and appraisals that need to be completed by both parties."

In fact, China relaxed the rules regarding the operation of private paternity testing agencies last October. Since then, the sector has seen a rapid increase in popularity, with test cases in Beijing increasing by 20 per cent and in East China's Zhejiang Province by 50 per cent.

Wang said his centre received six-10 applications a day and all the customers do the test in secret.

The expert testimony centre at the Ministry of Justice dealt with more than 1,000 paternity test cases in 2004.

Paternity test websites only require applicants to mail hair follicles, toothbrushes or cotton swabs with blood samples. The result can be known within a week, depending on payment.

Compared with the authorized agencies' fees of 3,000 yuan (US$370), online agencies are often able to charge higher fees as they offer tests secretly.

"We have to be extremely careful about our service, otherwise our reputation would be ruined," said one of the leaders of a Nanjing-based biological engineering company that provides paternity tests online.

"We are doctoral students of life science and DNA research," Ylem Yang wrote at the top of his company's homepage.

He also advised the test result could only be an individual reference and cannot be used as testimony in court. "Be cautious about your decision to do the test," the website warned.

Representatives of the authorized agencies said the online system had its flaws.

"We are quite careful about each test we conduct," said Xiao Bai, vice-director of the State-approved paternity test centre at Chaoyang Hospital in Beijing, "making sure there is detailed information provided by applicants."

Applicants are required to provide ID cards, marriage certificates and their children's birth certificates as well as the couple's signatures. Official papers from legal departments are also required if the paternity test is conducted at the request of the police or the court.

"Currently, China has no law to regulate the unauthorized paternity test market," said Hou Lihong, an associate researcher of the law institute at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.

Hou said paternity test advertisements were featured all over the Internet, but because the service providers did not sign any contract with customers or have supervision from authorized agencies, fraud may exist.

Wu Dong, a lawyer with the Shanghai-based Huiye Law Office, said the online paternity test services were chaotic and could not be relied upon to provide correct results every time.

"It suits applicants who want to know the result as quickly as possible and in secret, but no one supervises the tests. Applicants may firmly believe the test result, no matter whether it is true or false, which leads to family conflicts," Wu said.

A lawyer surnamed Wan from Central China's Hunan Province said the private testing was unscientific and mailing hairs or blood provided insufficient data to determine the identity of the biological father.

NOT CONCLUSIVE

Wan said the test materials could be easily "tainted" by other people's DNA, leading to a false result.

Xiao said the authorized paternity test centre, where he works, invested "several million yuan" each year on new equipment, laboratory upgrading and personnel training, which could not be guaranteed by some private paternity testing agencies.

"Without strict lab management, mistakes are inevitable," said Xiao.

Some lawyers believed unauthorized paternity testing agencies were infringing on applicants' privacy because of the absence of a contract or other legal agreement.

"Paternity tests lead to life-and-death decisions. We have to be especially cautious because many test applicants decide their family's fate based on the test result we provide," Xiao said.

Source: Xinhua