Whose your daddy? Mobile DNA tester seeks to find out: gallery

Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Jared Rosenthal, founder of Health Street, poses with his DNA testing van in New York. The clinic, operated by a New York company called Health Street, started in 2010 but was revamped two months ago.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Jared Rosenthal, founder of Health Street, demonstrates how DNA samples are taken in New York. Once a time-consuming and complicated process, DNA testing has become so accessible that experts worry families and individuals may not be properly prepared for the results.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Passersby can hail the conspicuous brown and blue Winnebago to have DNA samples taken by a technician, packaged and sent to a laboratory in Ohio. Results are returned within three to five business days. Mandatory prescriptions for the tests from a customer's physician can be faxed via the Internet to the RV.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Jared Rosenthal, founder of Health Street, holds Q-tips used for cheek swabs in his DNA testing van in New York. Customers at Health Street must have a prescription from a doctor requesting the tests, Rosenthal said. Paternity testing is usually not covered by health insurance unless there is a medical need.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

A DNA testing form sits on a table in the DNA testing van in New York. Experts say there has been a steady increase in demand for such tests in the United States, reaching close to 500,000 a year, according to Michael Baird, director of DNA Diagnostics, a DNA testing laboratory, in part because the rate of births to unmarried women has also been increasing.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Jared Rosenthal, founder of Health Street, takes a call from a client in his DNA testing van in New York. Accprding to Rosenthal typical customers at Health Street include men who are engaged and want to confirm offspring from a past relationship, returning soldiers seeking reassurance that they fathered newly-born children, and women inquiring about paternity on behalf of their children.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

A woman enters the "Who's Your Daddy?" DNA testing van inNew York. While it is common for DNA testing distributors, companies who take the samples and send them to labs for analysis, to offer mobile collection services, Health Street appears to be the first to splash exactly what it does on the vehicle. "DNA TESTING" in bold red lettering is painted on the side
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Jared Rosenthal, founder of Health Street, speaks with the media in his "Who's Your Daddy?" DNA testing van in New York. According to Rosenthal Health Street's DNA tests are analysed in a lab certified by the AABB as well as the New York State Department of Health.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Jared Rosenthal, founder of Health Street, takes a moment to check his emails in his DNA testing van in New York.
Photograph by: ANDREW KELLY

Jared Rosenthal, founder of Health Street, poses with his DNA testing van in New York. "It's just such a serious, fundamental question ... who are your children? Who are your parents?"