Wal-Mart, Ardmore lab team up to start DNA pilot program

Journal Record, The (Oklahoma City), Apr 2, 1999 by Patrick Casey Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A Wal-Mart store and a laboratory in Ardmore have joined hands in a pilot program that will let parents collect DNA samples from their children -- just in case the youngsters are ever kidnapped, killed or otherwise need to be identified.

"Our interest is to help our community any way we can," Mary Lewis, the store's risk control manager, said Thursday. "I believe parents have always been interested in these kinds of programs."

"We want to protect our community," Lewis said. "We live here. People that live here in Ardmore are important to us." "This is a good thing. It's entirely in the control of the parents," said Lindel Flatt, owner of Ardmore Biological Analysis. "Police might find blood samples at a crime scene and if the parents have their child's DNA card it would identify the blood." DNA contains genetic information that makes each person unique. With the exception of identical twins, everyone's DNA is different, in the same way fingerprints differ. DNA has been used to prove guilt or innocence, identify infants switched at birth and verify that a kidnapping victim was in a certain place at a certain time. People have been released from prison after new DNA tests cleared them in rape and murder cases. DNA evidence helped authorities two years ago link two prisoners to a 1979 rape and homicide in Tulsa. But its most valuable asset to law enforcement is in identifying a decomposed or dismembered body. Although such a tragedy is unimaginable, especially for a parent, authorities say it happens more often than people think. Flatt said the sampling is done by using a swab to collect skin cells from inside a child's cheek. The sample then is put on a piece of specially treated paper. That is then sealed into a plastic envelope and given only to the parents. "It's called Kid Tracer," Flatt said. "It's a self-test kit that can be administered by parents and stored with the child's birth certificate." Lewis said the sampling will be done May 6, 7 and 8 at a table set up inside the store. She said the only charge to parents will be $1 to cover the cost of the kits. "In the past we have done the fingerprints for children and other programs," Lewis said. "We had the local police come in and take fingerprints of the children for their parents. That went over really well. You can never be too careful, you know." DNA testing has one of two outcomes: If the DNA patterns do not match, the individual in question is not the source of the stain. If the samples do match, then scientists can provide a statistical likelihood that the stain came from a particular person. "It's 99.9 percent certain. The samples are either going to match or they are not. That is a very simple test," Flatt said. Flatt said, too, that parents don't have to be too concerned with contaminating the sample and making it impossible for police to use. "The kits use a sterile applicator and there is not much handling," he said. "There shouldn't be a big worry about contamination as long as they follow the instructions." Jerry Massie, spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, said DNA samples are required from inmates "depending upon what crimes they are convicted of." Massie said the crimes include sex offenses, assault and battery, murder and other acts of violence. He said the samples, which have been collected since July 1, 1996, are then added to an offender database maintained by the Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation.