Participants included the Connecticut State Police Forensic Science Laboratory in Meriden, Illinois State Police in Carbondale, Metro-Dade Police Crime Laboratory in Miami, North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation in Raleigh, and the Orange County Sheriff's Department Crime Laboratory in Santa Ana, CA. Of the 180 DNA containing samples analyzed, results were reported for 178. Of these all were correctly typed. Two sites did not report a result for one sample each. Four of the five laboratories experienced no significant levels of contamination in the samples. At one site with the highest number of contaminated samples, the typing results were not compromised. This site corrected the contamination problem through simple procedural changes and stricter adherence to sterile technique. Blank controls were important to monitor contamination. These trials demonstrated that a forensic science laboratory inexperienced with PCR can set up a PCR-based DNA typing program and successfully use the AmpliType HLA DQalpha forensic DNA amplification and typing kit to analyze forensic samples. 1 figures, 3 tables, and 9 references (Author abstract modified)