Home test shows sex of fetus at five weeks of pregnancy

Home test shows sex of fetus at five weeks

A finger prick test for pregnant women that can tell them the sex of their child has aroused huge public interest since it was featured on a US television show. The test, which can allegedly show the sex of the fetus at only five weeks of pregnancy, is claimed to be 99.9% accurate.

"We’ve had more than a thousand inquiries in just three weeks. Our phone is ringing off the hook," said Sherry Bonelli, president of the Pregnancy Store, the company that sells the test kit, the Baby Gender Mentor test (www.pregnancystore.com).

She said the company would promote the test in pregnancy and parenting magazines. "We’re always on a hunt for new products," she added.

She said that Acu-Gen, a biotech company in Massachusetts, supplied the new test. Woman can order the $25 (£14; €21) kit, take a finger prick blood sample, and send the dried sample to Acu-Gen for analysis, which costs $250. The laboratory analyses fetal DNA in the woman’s blood sample, looking for a Y chromosome, indicating that the fetus is male. Two to three days later women use their assigned code to learn the sex of the fetus over the internet. Users are offered a refund if the result is later found to be wrong. The cost is not covered by health insurance but is similar to the cost of ultrasonography ordered by a doctor or commercial ultrasonography used by parents who want pictures of their fetus (BMJ2004;328:853).

Ms Bonelli said that the test gave results at an earlier stage of pregnancy than chorionic villus sampling, which gives results at 11 weeks, or amniocentesis, which gives results at 18 weeks or later and carries some small risks. The Baby Gender Mentor test had no risks, she said.

She said that expectant parents were eager to learn the sex of their fetus. It "personalises the child," she said, meaning that the parents can name the child and prepare nursery rooms.

Concern about using sex selection and abortion to balance the sexes in a family with two or three children of one sex "has come up," she said, but she felt that parents were glad to accept any child and she thought this would not be a problem in the United States.

She emphasised that the test was not intended for diagnostic purposes, such as to detect sex linked disorders, and was not marketed to doctors.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said it had no comment.

Dr Rosamond Rhodes, professor of medical education and director of bioethics education at Mount Sinai Medical School in New York, told the BMJ that although the test could be used for sex selection she did not think it would be in the United States, Canada, or Great Britain. "People want a balanced family. The data have shown that a majority of couples in the US would prefer a boy first, but even though they are wishing and hoping for that, they are not prepared to take measures if it’s a girl. If it’s a girl first, it makes no difference," she told the BMJ, quoting a study in the American Journal of Bioethics (2001; 1:2-9) Couples who might take action are those with real reasons to worry about a sex-linked genetic disorder, she said.

The website of the company is www.pregnancystore.com