Posted on 08/11/2005 12:40:55 PM PDT by summer
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Perhaps one out of every 25 dads could unknowingly be raising another man's child, a finding that has huge health and social implications, according to report released Wednesday.
Exposing so-called paternal discrepancy -- when a child is identified as being biologically fathered by someone other than the man who believes he is the father -- could lead to family violence and the breakup of many families. On the other hand, leaving paternal discrepancy hidden means having the wrong genetic information, which could have health consequences.
A UK-based research team reviewed scientific research dealing with paternity published between 1950 and 2004 and reports that rates of paternal discrepancy range from less than 1 percent to as much as 30 percent.
The investigation also showed that becoming pregnant at a younger age, low socioeconomic status, and being in a long-term relationship rather than being married seem to be linked to greater likelihood of paternal discrepancy.
It is generally believed that rates of paternal discrepancy are less than 10 percent. A paternal discrepancy rate of 4 percent means that one in 25 families could be affected.
However, soaring rates of paternity testing in North America and Europe means more cases of paternal discrepancy will be identified in the years ahead, Professor Mark A. Bellis, from the Center for Public Health at the Liverpool John Moores University, and colleagues point out in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health.
In the United States, for example, rates of paternity testing more than doubled between 1991 and 2001. The increasing use of genetic testing for diagnosis and treatment of disease as well as in judicial procedures will also yield more opportunities to uncover cases where a father, unbeknownst to him, is not the biological parent.
"Modern genetic techniques continue to open a Pandora's box on hitherto hidden aspects of human sexual behavior," the investigators write.
Exposing such situations will inevitably affect not only deceived dads but also their family and potentially the biological father. Leaving paternal discrepancy undiagnosed, on the other hand, leaves those affected with incorrect genetic information that could prove harmful.
What's urgently needed, the authors say, is guidance on how and when paternal discrepancy should be exposed.
At present, most cases that are inadvertently identified are ignored by whoever uncovers the situation.
"However, in a society where services and life decisions are increasingly influenced by genetics, our approach to paternal discrepancy cannot be simply to ignore this difficult issue but must be informed by what best protects the health of those affected," Bellis and colleagues argue.
Yea! Could cast lightning bolts! LOL!!
I'd go with Apollo. How can you go wrong with the patron god of light? The arts, athletics, intellect, reason, healing, prophecy - you've got it all! That, and he was an especially slutty god..
LOL! You convinced me. Apollo it is. :-)
Except he aint Greek. Gots to keep tradition alive ya know! :-)
"My faith didn't begin falling apart until I was in college, and it had nothing to do with the dissonance between the scriptures and empiricism. It had to do with the irreconcilable paradoxes of Christian theology alongside my studies of its historical emergence and development. One day I finally looked up and thought to myself: what silly nonsense this all is. And BTW I've never come to peace with that, but reality is what it is, not what I want it to be."
Actually your situation make complete sense as well. You found a "void" in Christian theology and nothing else but "evolution" filled it.
My opinion, the Heavenly Father knows you, where you are and when and if He wants your attention it will be Him that gets it. That is pure and uncontrolled love.
Mmmmm.... You are making me hungry!!!
He would also watch over picnicers ...
... and inspired the army to change the color of their uniforms.
Personality doesn't necessarily have anything to do with either knowledge or character. Those are things that need to be cultivated. "Roots" are more than bloodline. They are the environment in which one grows up, what he learns to value, what he learns about love. How can a child who has never seen a good relationship know how to HAVE a good relationship or be a good mate...if, indeed, that child ever learns that a mate is anything more than a sperm donor or receptacle? How can a child who has never been parented know how to parent his/her own children? A child learns what a man is based on his/her own relationships with men, particularly his/her father. A child learns what a woman is by his/her relationship with women, particularly his/her mother. If these relationships are warped and twisted and ungrounded, it stands to reason that the child's view of them will be also.
A child learns what he lives, by default, and that learning forms the foundation of everything that comes after. If the foundation is false or unstable, how can that which is built on it be sound? A house built on sand might stand for awhile and a beautiful house can be built on a rotting foundation, but the foundation will ultimately collapse because it is unstable.
That's not to say that a child cannot rise above his/her circumstances and some of the desire to do so indeed is born of the innate personality, but it requires a lot of self-motivation that many of them just don't possess.
You mean like this?
http://www.familytest.com/
Krum. At least there's a town north of Denton (I35) named for Him. This choice would provide a counterbalance to your research.
ROTFLMAO! OMG, how do you keep coming up with this stuff. Too funny. :-)
That doesn't mean the _results_ of such testing will be automatically released to the parents or others. It will be done as a precautionary measure with the results stored for possible future requirements.
Just as a birth certificate contains simple information as to date of birth, location, name, mother's name, etc. - the birth certificates of the future will contain an encapsuled "genetic code" of the baby.
It would probably become good practice to immediately release the DNA results to the _parents_ in confidence. This guarantees that the father will _know_, proof positive, that the child his wife has just produced is indeed his own. Even if the father is _not_ present or even unknown (don't laugh), the genetic information will be _there_, in case at some point in the future the father re-enters the scene.
Hopefully, this will all-but-shutdown those wrongful paternity cases where a man ends up burdened with the cost of child support for a child that he had nothing to do with genetically.
- John
Believe it, it can be done.
Possibly as you say not often though.
I hate to say this, but I don't think he's gonna get any fundage back...
Hmmmm... Thats a thought. :-)
Hard to pass up on the "he was an especially slutty god.." though! LOL!
Perhaps the origin of the term "woods colt" for a child of uncertain paternity. It might have been the horse-god Wheeheehehehuhuhblffftthh!!
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