Paternity Testing Had a Long History Before Today’s DNA Kits

In 2017, consumer DNA testing exploded, with more people purchasing home testing kits than in all prior years combined. Such growth is possible thanks to scientific advances and the rise over the past two decades of a direct-to-consumer testing industry. But while scientific research can take credit for the former, the media played a key role in the latter, by inventing something perhaps even more potent: paternity testing as a cultural phenomenon.

In 2017, consumer DNA testing exploded, with more people purchasing home testing kits than in all prior years combined. Such growth is possible thanks to scientific advances and the rise over the past two decades of a direct-to-consumer testing industry. But while scientific research can take credit for the former, the media played a key role in the latter, by inventing something perhaps even more potent: paternity testing as a cultural phenomenon.