The procedure is simple and painless, it takes about 5 minutes:

1. Purchase:

• Sterile cotton swabs at any nearby pharmacy.
• Ordinary paper envelopes. There is one envelope for each participant.

2. It is better to sign envelopes first by filling in the following information:

• Participant’s full name (if the test is anonymous, you can specify the first letter of the name or just “Sample 1”).
• The participant’s date of birth (optional for anonymous tests).
• The degree of kinship (for example, father, child, mother, uncle, grandmother, etc.).
• The date the sample was taken.

3. Take two cotton swabs for each DNA test participant. Cut off one cotton head from each of the two sticks so only one remains on each stick. Do not touch the cotton tip with your hands!!!

4. Hold the plastic end of the swab and rub the cotton tip against the inside of the cheek about 10 times, moving it up and down. To ensure good contact, press the cheek slightly from the outside with the other hand.

5. Hold a cotton swab with a DNA sample in the air for about a minute to evaporate excess moisture, then put it in a paper envelope.  Do not touch the envelope from the inside!!!

6. After collecting the sample from one cheek, take the second swab, hold the plastic end, and repeat steps 3-4 on the other cheek.

7. Once both swabs from one person are in the same envelope, seal it using the adhesive strip. Don’t lick the envelope!!!

As a result, you will get two cotton swabs — one from each cheek — sealed in one envelope per person. This is your standard DNA sample. Also non-standard samples may be used for DNA tests. You can view the list of non-standard DNA samples here.