The forensic medicine service center in the city's reputed Zhongshan University was uneasy about the growing number of people taking paternity tests in the past two years, the Guangzhou Daily reported.
Director of the service center, Lu Huiling, said 80 percent conducted tests proved to have consanguinity, which means only 20 percent of children tested were not kin to their "father."
Lu said they had conducted more than 1,300 paternity tests for the public last year, a 10 percent increase over 2003, and 20 times more than the figure of 1998, when the paternity test service was first open to the public.
"Most of our clients are men aged 25 to 45. Some did not have necessary reasons to carry the test," she said.
"A man brought in his 1-month-old baby to take a paternity test just because 'it was a popular test,' even though he believed he had a loyal wife."
Experts said families should avoid unnecessary paternity tests, which could badly hurt the relationship between family members, especially their small children.
However, there are also single mothers taking more than one partner for paternity tests. "There was a single mother taking three men to the center in one day to find out who is the baby's father," said Lu.
(Shenzhen Daily May 20, 2005)
