Genetic Testing and Minors
Genetic Testing and Minors
The science of genetic testing has only recently gained acceptance as the study of DNA has evolved in the past 20 years. Today, through the use of low-cost genetic tests, minors can be tested for a variety of genetic factors including identity, heredity, susceptibility to disease, testing for future risk factors for major illness and establishing parental lines. As fingerprinting was once the method of choice pushed by police departments and parents to help identify children should they go missing, today DNA is quickly taking over as the method of choice.
We are all born with a specific DNA and we will all die with the exact same DNA that we had from day one. Therefore a minor child can have a sample of DNA extracted literally at birth and it can be used for identification purposes throughout his or her entire life. Unlike fingerprints that may or may not be present in a missing child case, DNA can be used to identify a person when only the smallest skin, hair or blood sample is available.
Parents today are going one step further than just using genetic testing for identification of minors. A variety of tests now available thanks to advances in genetics and DNA probe matching can even trace the ancestry of a child, their likelihood of being susceptible to a specific disease or illness and other genetic traits that are being identified on a daily basis. Though doctors caution that this field of “genetic vanity testing” is just that – for mainly vanity purposes – they also agree that some of this testing can have a useful purpose in helping identify certain medical conditions that one should be aware of as the child develops.
One of the most common uses of genetic testing in minors is to help parents and medical professionals examine genetic markers to see if a child is susceptible to disease or major illness – such as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's and others. As science learns more about the characteristics of such diseases they are also examining patients DNA to find out common markers that may be present. By using these markers in comparison with DNA samples from a minor they can better understand what the risk factors for such a disease is. Though it should be cautioned that these types of genetic tests are by no means definitive when it comes to the question of will a child develop such a disease.
The most common use of genetic testing in minors is to determine paternity – or who the father of the child was. In order for this to be successful DNA samples from the minor, the mother and the potential father must all be present. By isolating the chromosomes that the mother provided to the child the remaining chromosomes can be matched up against the father – every child will inherit 50% of their chromosomes from the mother and the other 50% from the father.
Identification is the most common reason that genetic testing is done. By establishing the DNA profile of a minor it can be used throughout their entire lifetime to help identify them should they go missing. Even after the child may have died, DNA samples can be extracted from bone or hair samples to match against the base DNA profile established years or decades earlier.
Genetic testing is in its infancy, and many parents are seeing the potential for it and the usefulness of it for not only identification but also for a variety of other medical and person reasons. Today, roughly 1 in 4 minors will have their genetic profile examined by the time they are 13.