6533b870fe1ef96bd12cf997

RESEARCH PRODUCT

DNA Fingerprinting as a Tool of Paternity Testing in Germany

subject

description

Soon after the discovery of the ABO blood groups by Landsteiner their forensic application was suggested by Max Richter at the 74. Versammlung Deutscher Naturforscher und Arzte at Karlsbad (Karlovy Vary) in 1902 [1], Landsteiner’s Nobel lecture “Uber individuelle Unterschiede des menschlichen Blutes” in 1930 [2] provided a landmark on the path towards the discovery of so-called hypervariable minisatellite regions of human DNA by Alec Jeffreys in 1985 [3]. Since the individual patterns of any human being seemed to be unique it is well understood that this achievement was immediately welcomed with great enthusiasm by the scientific community and the public opinion. Soon thereafter, however, strong criticism was raised by claiming that such a high degree of individualization may violate human personality rights [4, 5]. In addition, premature and unprofessional application of DNA fingerprinting in Court cases in USA threatened to invalidate the whole procedure [6, 7]. However, the critics have also been criticized [8–10].