Prof. Bernard Dickens quoted in Globe and Mail story about DNA testing

Prof. Bernard Dickens was recently quoted in a Globe and Mail article about the ethics surrounding non-paternity issues ("Mommy's little secret"; Dec. 14, 2002, page F1).

The Globe reports that improvements and widespread use of DNA testing is presenting science and society with all sorts of new ethical problems. For example, geneticists believe about 10 per cent of children are not fathered by the man they believe to be daddy.

Prof. Dickens, who is often consulted on ethical issues by geneticists at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, says that in one British example, up to 30 per cent of children in a classroom discovered their dads were not their biological fathers.

Prof. Dickens also told the Globe that culture can determine whether false paternity is high or low.

"For example, in Muslim Egypt, the integrity of lineage is so important that neither sperm or egg donation nor adoption is permitted, let alone sexual indiscretion," the Globe reports.