Soap opera scriptwriters are going to have to seriously change the way they write a well-worn storyline - namely the who's-the-father-of-my-child plot - thanks to the launch of a DNA testing kit by Boots. Admittedly kits have been available to buy over the internet and in some independent pharmacies for several years, but their wider availability at the high-street chemist's chain could make things easier for families who are in doubt over parentage issues.
A new test kit from Boots can confirm with 99.99 accurate. It contains cotton wool swabs that are used to take saliva samples from the inside of the mother's, child's and would-be father's cheeks.
Once the samples have been taken, you just pop the swabs in colour-coded envelopes and send them off to UK lab Anglia DNA, where they are analysed. Results are produced as quickly as within five days. But if you want a copy, you'll have to shell out an extra £129 in lab charges for it.
The test, which is available to anyone over the age of 16, comes with consent forms that have to be signed by both the mother and father of the child in question, as well as accompanied by ID proof.
Questionable paternity is a real issue in this country, with around 500,000 birth certificates a year failing to name the father and an estimated one in 25 children living with an assumed dad who's not their biological father. So is making tests like this DNA kit more easy to obtain going to help?
For more on this story, check out what our friends over at Parentdish have to say.