§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how the secretor status of a dead person is determined; how reliable is the test; and in what circumstances there is a risk of contamination invalidating the test.
§ Mr. BrittanThe secretor status of a dead person can be determined by a form of blood grouping (the Lewis group system) or by the grouping of the saliva on a mouth swab. The reliability of the tests depends on the condition of the samples; tests on badly contaminated samples may not be reliable and should not be used.