Liberal Talk Radio

Paternity kits now being sold in drug stores threaten to render Maury Povich’s show pointless:

Genetic testing is now available at the drugstore. A company called Sorenson Genomics has started selling a paternity test kit through Rite Aid stores in California, Oregon and Washington. It appears to be the first time a DNA test is being sold through a major pharmacy chain.

The move into the pharmacy is another in the spread of genetic testing directly to consumers. Many genetic tests, for health and diet advice, ancestry and paternity, are already available directly to consumers through the Internet.

But Sorenson hopes the corner drugstore will appeal to different customers, including those who do not want to wait three or five days for a kit to arrive in the mail after ordering it over the Internet.

“There is a curiosity and a need to know that can be provided discreetly, conveniently and affordably at retail,” said Douglas R. Fogg, chief operating officer of Sorenson Genomics. The company’s slogan: “For questions only DNA can answer.”