Canadian DNA lab admits 'routinely sending out inaccurate results' that destroyed multiple families after biological dads were wrongly told children weren't theirs

A Canadian paternity DNA company knowingly gave out inaccurate tests that identified the wrong father, destroying families in the process, a new report has claimed. 

Viaguard Accu-Metrics sold and delivered home tests to check the identity of a baby's father over the span of a decade through online stores charging up to $1,000. 

Families who used the tests have now spoken out about receiving false results which ruled out real dads and ended relationships. 

Owner of Viaguard Accu-Metrics, Harvey Tenenbaum, 91, was caught on camera by an undercover CBC reporter admitting he knew the tests were 'never that accurate'. 

He listed times where the test had been wrong, saying: 'Test the white guy and the baby came out Black, and the white guy's saying: 'What's going on here?' 

Viaguard is based in Toronto but sold its tests online around the world to families in the US, UK, Australia, and Guatemala. 

It is still run by Tenenbaum, who started 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 be able to match DNA from a fetus with the biological father's DNA. 

But when CBC went undercover as a prospective customer to interview Tenenbaum, he acknowledged that the tests were inaccurate. 

He said: 'The test was not that accurate…. And we're leery of that test now.

'There's a lot involved if it gets screwed up. What if it's the wrong guy named and you're aborting your child of, you know, a wrong person…. We can imagine everything happens in life…. You see them all, and worse, and worse.'

When CBC approached him on the record he insisted the tests were 'accurate' and 'perfect'. 

But parents tell a very different story. 

Corale Mayer, 22, from North Bay, Ontario, was 19 when she discovered 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 the dad.

She didn't discover the mistake until months after the baby had been born when she used a different DNA testing service. 

She told CBC: 'It's extremely traumatic. You know when you're just so hysterically upset, you laugh like you're just beyond emotion?'

Mayer started a Facebook support group to find other parents who had been let down by the tests - the group now has over 90 members. 

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 those test results, it was like a line in the sand. Immediately, right then and there, things just changed.'

He bought a house and a car and dedicated 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's not a handbook on how to handle raising a kid for eight months and then finding out that it's not yours. You're left in a mysterious, dark place mentally.'

There is a surprising lack of regulation for private DNA testing companies like Viaguard, with experts calling for the federal government to step in and protect customers. 

Mayer told CBC: 'The main thing I want for Viaguard is for it to close down. I think that's a collective feeling. I don't think anyone would even imagine that it would still be open.'

DailyMail.com has contacted Viaguard for comment. 

The company was accused of fraudulent practices before after a customer sent in their dog's DNA instead of their own and was told it was descended from Native Americans.

Louis Cote, a resident of Mascouche, Quebec, sent his own DNA and his girlfriend's chihuahua Snoopy's to the company for testing. 

When Cote received the results, he found that both he and Snoopy have indigenous ancestry - 12 per cent Abenaki and 8 per cent Mohawk.

‘I don't feel very good for the people who paid for these tests,’ Cote said.