Are dna test 100% accurate. Could they be wrong at times?

Question

Are dna test 100% accurate. Could they be wrong at times?

Answer 1

no

i forget the reason

[i took biology like...5 years ago, so bear with me]

but theres a rare chance for inaccuracies between parental/child dna.

i honestly forget what this is called or what causes it but i DO know that it is real.

its just extremeeeely rare.

its really more of a glitch in the dna test system, though.

[i believe]

no thumbs downs on this, i know im not entirely accurate but im just saying i know there is some kind of altercation.

VERY RARE.

Answer 2

no, they are not. sometimes the DNA is damaged so the tests cannot be accurate. in forensics labs they get damaged samples sometimes. if the DNA is in good condition, then the test will be accurate.  

Answer 3

They're like 99.9% Accurate . . . so probably right 99.9% of the time!  

Answer 4

I heard they can be tricky with twins and the like.

But basically, they're accurate. Almost always.

Answer 5

i would not say they are infallible, there have been mistakes with dna tests. They are not 100% true, i would say 99% true most  of the time

Answer 6

if there is contamination; just recheck it. The likelihood of both being wrong is like 1:4874378789798574895789

Answer 7

when they give results they tell you  the percentage of likelihood its a match

If it is, it is.

Answer 8

the test itself is %100 accurate. But mistakes can be made in the lab (evidence handled improperly, etc). If it wasn't %100 accurate, I doubt that it would have so much power in the legal system. After all, lie detector tests are supposed to be like %95 accurate, and they rarely get used in court and even if they are, there is still other evidence to back up the lie detector.  

Answer 9

DNA is specific to each person and familly the only way there could be a mix up is for identical paternal twins..so 99.99% accurate.

Answer 10

my girlfriend said the same thing.  I dumped her.  dna doesnt lie

Answer 11

Sure, if the lab technicians contaminated, or mixed up samples.

Answer 12

yes, but chances they are wrong are literally 1 in a few billion

Answer 13

They are 100% accurate unless the sample has been tainted which usually never happens.

Answer 14

The test is accurate if performed correctly.

Depending on what you are trying to prove the probability of the analysis being accurate can vary.

Answer 15

Infinitesimally close to 100%. The reason is that DNA tests check only part of the DNA, not the whole genome (which would take too much time). It is a bit like identifying a book by reading only one page from it; chances of being wrong is not zero, but is very near zero; statistically, when the chance of error is one in one billion, one might call if foolproof.

If a test is unconclusive, then a second one can be done, checking another "page".