A Canadian DNA paternity company knowingly distributed inaccurate tests that identified the wrong father, destroying families, according to a new report.
Viaguard Accu-Metrics has sold and delivered at-home tests to verify the identity of a baby’s father for a decade through online stores charging up to $1,000.
Families who used the tests have now spoken out about receiving false results that excluded real fathers and ended relationships.
Viaguard Accu-Metrics owner Harvey Tenenbaum, 91, was filmed by an undercover CBC reporter admitting he knew the tests were “never that accurate.”
He listed times when the test had been wrong, saying, “Test the white one and the baby came out black, and the white one said, ‘What’s going on here?’
Corale Mayer had her baby’s real father ruled out through a Viaguard test and didn’t discover the mistake until months after his birth.
She said the experience was “extremely traumatic” because it pushed her to involve a man who was not the real father in her baby’s life.
Viaguard is based in Toronto, but sells its online tests worldwide to families in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Guatemala.
It is still run by Tenenbaum, who began selling DNA services through Viaguard in the early 2000s, starting the prenatal paternity part of the business in 2013, according to CBC.
If done correctly, the tests should match a fetus’ DNA with that of the biological father.
But when CBC swooped in as a potential client to interview Tenenbaum, he admitted the tests were inaccurate.
He said: “The test wasn’t that accurate…. And we are wary of this test now.
“There are a lot of things to do if things go wrong. What if the wrong man’s name was the wrong one and you aborted your child, you know, from the wrong person…. We can imagine that everything happens in life…. You see them all, and getting worse and worse.
When CBC approached him officially, he insisted the tests were “accurate” and “perfect.”
But the parents tell a very different story.
Corale Mayer, 22, of North Bay, Ontario, was 19 when she found out she was pregnant.
She looked online and ordered two paternity tests for $800 each from Viaguard: they ruled out the real father and confirmed that the wrong man was not the father.
She didn’t discover the mistake until several months after the baby’s birth, when she used another DNA testing service.
She told CBC: “It’s extremely traumatic. You know how when you’re so hysterically upset, you laugh like you’re beyond emotion?
Mayer started a support group on Facebook to find other parents disappointed by the tests — the group now has more than 90 members.
Harvey Tenenbaum, 91, owner of Viaguard Accu-Metrics, was filmed by CBC and admitted the tests were inaccurate.
When they later asked him officially, he said the tests were “perfect.”
In Atlanta, Georgia, John Brennan had a similar experience to Mayer when he received a false positive on a test.
He told CBC: “As soon as I saw the results of those tests, it was like a line in the sand. Immediately, in that moment, things changed.
He bought a house and a car and devoted his life to the baby, even getting his name – Travis – tattooed on his arm.
But eight months later, he discovered the test was wrong and he wasn’t really the father.
He said: “There is no manual for how to raise a child for eight months and then find out it’s not yours. You find yourself mentally in a mysterious and dark place.
There is a surprising lack of regulation for private DNA testing companies like Viaguard, with experts calling on the federal government to step in and protect customers.
Mayer told CBC: “The main thing I want for Viaguard is for it to close. I think it’s a collective feeling. I don’t think anyone would imagine it would still be open.
DailyMail.com has contacted Viaguard for comment.
The company was previously accused of fraudulent practices after a customer sent their dog’s DNA instead of his own and was told he was descended from Native Americans.
Louis Côté, a resident of Mascouche, Quebec, sent his own DNA and that of his girlfriend’s chihuahua Snoopy’s to the company for testing.
When Cote received the results, he discovered that he and Snoopy had Indigenous ancestry – 12 percent Abenaki and 8 percent Mohawk.
“I don’t feel very good for the people who paid for these tests,” Côté said.
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