By Joan Raymond 

If you can buy pregnancy and ovulation kits over the counter, it only follows that drugstore paternity testing would be next. Last November, Identigene, a Salt Lake City DNA-testing company (dnatesting.com), began a rollout of its over-the-counter DIY paternity-test kit. In the past year, some 60,000 people have mailed in cheek swabs from the alleged father and child for analysis. (For best results, a DNA sample from the mother should be included, too.) Though the test won’t stand up in court—no impartial DNA collector, no proof of identity and no chain of custody—the DNA samples are analyzed the same way a court-admissible test is, says Doug Fogg, chief operating officer. That means Identigene checks for 16 or more genetic markers in its accredited lab facilities. Results are available in three to five business days at a secure online site or by mail. The test costs $29.99, plus a $119 lab and processing fee. (For $200 more, customers can opt for a method that includes court-admissible sample collection and chain-of-custody procedures verified by a third party.) The kits are available at Rite Aid, CVS, Meijer, Fruth and, just last week, Walgreens, in the home-health-test aisle or the family-planning section—right next to the spermicides, sponges and condoms.