New German Law Allows Men To Seek Paternity Test Despite Objection By the Child's Mother


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February 22, 2008 9:21 a.m. EST

Topics: science and technology
Vittorio Hernandez - AHN News Writer

Berlin, Germany (AHN) - A new law on paternity testing passed by the Bundestag Friday makes it unnecessary for men to secretly seek private DNA testing from German laboratories. With the law, even if the mother's child objects to the paternity testing, the man who suspects he fathered or did not sired the child, may still acquire the DNA paternity test.

But lack of genetic ties does not automatically translate into cutting legal ties with a child he treated as his own. He can still retain paternity ties despite the missing biological link.

Since the secret DNA paternity test became a law, around 20,000 such tests were done annually, according to German Justice Minister Brigitte Zypries. Other than knowing the truth, the results were useless pieces of papers because the courts did not recognize it.

Juergen Gehb, legal expert of the Christian Democratic party commended the approval of the new law. "This is a good day for all those men who have in the past struggled to escape the burden of financial responsibility." Peter Schaar, Federal Commissioner for Data Protection, added, it found a sensible balance among the interests of the child, mother and father.

Zypries had previously objected to secret DNA paternity testings because it was unconstitutional and goes against a person's constitutional right to determine the results or effects of his personal information culled from DNA testing.

It costs between $385 to $1,026 (300 to 800 euro) to have a DNA testing at a private clinic in Germany. The cost is cheaper if arranged via the Internet. A hair sample or saliva on a toothbrush, genetic materials which can be secured without the knowledge of a person, is sufficient to determine paternity.


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