Need to test your wifes/girlfriends panties?

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Daily Mail

The tales that emerge from a DNA collection office in Dunbar make for fascinating daytime television.

Actually, some folks who've utilized Health Research Systems for paternity testing have had their stories of uncertainty unravel on programs like "Jerry Springer," "Maury" and "Montel."

"A couple of young ladies came in as cousins and left as sisters," recalls Michael Day, owner and president of Health Research Systems, which has offices in Dunbar, Huntington and Columbus, Ohio. "The dad was having an affair with the wife's sister."

Each month at its Dunbar and Huntington locations, Day's business usually conducts up to 15 paternity tests, which determine whether a man is the biological father of a person. The Columbus office fields a higher volume of requests, Day said.

Most mothers come in wanting to establish the identity of their child's father for legal purposes, such as enforcing child support payments. Others just want to know for their own sake.

Sometimes, it takes quite a few tries to find the real father of a child.

Day remembers one woman who had four different men come in for tests before identifying the father. A colleague of Day's in Texas once told him about a 16-year-old that had 11 potential fathers submit to DNA tests.

Health Research Systems can even test for blood relationships that reach beyond parents and children. They've had some pretty intriguing requests.

"We've had all kinds of wild stuff," Day said. "We had a person clipping hair from a dead body in a casket and bringing it to us. We can't get DNA out of hair."

Forensic samples can be taken, however, from cigarette butts, toothbrushes or envelopes sealed with a deceased individual's saliva.

"We also have men bringing in their wives' underwear to us," Day said.

In that case, the underwear is tested for DNA to see if their partner has been unfaithful.

The tests can also uncover grandparent, aunt, uncle and sibling relationships.

The possibilities are endless. Each test -- no matter the outcome -- costs about $440.

That's a bargain considering the $2,000 price tag those tests carried a few years ago, Day said.

Day founded Health Research Systems in 1991. The company started out just offering drug and alcohol testing for large businesses.

In 2000, Day realized the growing demand for DNA paternity tests, which were popularized in part by daytime television talk shows. Host Maury Povich, specifically, is now known for grilling female guests about their child's paternity and then asking them to submit to DNA tests, with the results revealed to the entire national television audience. Povich has said the ratings for those shows are always high.

Since Health Research Systems was already collecting specimens, Day figured he could add this paternity facet to his business. Drug and alcohol testing still accounts for the bulk of the company's business, but the DNA business is growing.

The clinic now also does testing for cases handled by the state Department of Health and Human Resources.

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A few of Day's clients have actually gone on to appear on daytime talk shows, he said.

According to the American Association of Blood Banks, 30 percent of the 354,000 men who took paternity tests in 2003 were not the biological fathers of the children who were tested.

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http://www.dailymail.com/story/News/200 ... ily-tales/