ABSTRACT
For centuries philosophers have deliberated which came first, the chicken or the egg. In the context of forensic paediatrics, the egg – or rather the fertilized egg – being the precursor and genesis of the living child, is the appropriate place to start off the discussion on the role of genetics. It is, after all, the fertilized egg that develops into all 100 trillion cells that make up the human being, and it is the genetic information that comes together from mother and father at the point of fertilization that provides the instructions for the creation and development of the child.1 While the result is obviously of biological relevance, it is the analysis of the individuality of the inherited complement of genetic material from person to person that has proved of significant value in a forensic context. In a forensic investigation, genetic evidence may be used to confirm or refute a known individual as being the likely source of trace material or to identify a body or body remains. This chapter will focus on the above and the use of DNA in paternity testing.2
