- Jan 7, 2002
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New Kit Claims Would-Be Parents Can Pick Boy Or Girl
Kits Raise Ethical, Health And Scientific Questions
CLEVELAND -- New at-home gender-selection kits claim a 96 percent success rate in determining the sex of a baby without a visit to the doctor.
One item is called GenSelect, and is available online for about $200.
Jill Sweazy is a representative for GenSelect, and she said the kit comes with tools to create a gender bias, including ovulation predictors, douches and specialized vitamins.
"The three factors that GenSelect addresses are intercourse timing, vaginal vault pH and chemistry," Sweazy said.
Dr. Joseph Sanfilippo, of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said there's little scientific evidence that these methods improve the odds of gender choice.
"The problem here is there's a lack of such well-studied research when we look at these kits related to gender selection," Sanfilippo said. "I would definitely say buyer beware."
The Food and Drug Administration said GenSelect is not approved for gender selection, but some of the individual components are approved for gynecological purposes.
"The components that require FDA approval are the ovulation predictor and the digital body thermometer," Sweazy said.
The Andrology Institute of America is selling another kit online for just under $1,000. It uses semen separation and insemination. Institute founder, Dr. Panos Zavos, is most known for his controversial human cloning experiments.
"Placing the semen inside the vaginal cavity when they receive it is not a rocket engineer's type of a procedure," Zavos said. "But, in spite of that, we warn them that artificial insemination is a physician-prescribed procedure."
Embryologist Etta Volk warns that self-insemination can cause infection. She also cautions if sperm is not properly stored and shipped, odds of getting pregnant drop.
"It could lose its motility if it's exposed to extreme temperatures," said Volk. "It could compromise the viability of the sample."
Dr. Zavos dismisses the criticism and reports seeing an 80 percent success rate for male selection and 72 percent for female.
"Anything that we place inside this technology is sound and it works," he said.
Bio-ethicists like Arthur Caplan worry about what happens when gender-selection kits don't deliver as promised.
"You say you want a boy; you buy the manual; you do what it says; you don't get the boy. Well, are you going to take it out on the child?" he said.
There also are techniques available at some fertility clinics and doctors offices to aid gender selection, including the sperm-sorting technique called "microsort."
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine said it is awaiting further research before taking a position.
Kits Raise Ethical, Health And Scientific Questions
CLEVELAND -- New at-home gender-selection kits claim a 96 percent success rate in determining the sex of a baby without a visit to the doctor.
One item is called GenSelect, and is available online for about $200.
Jill Sweazy is a representative for GenSelect, and she said the kit comes with tools to create a gender bias, including ovulation predictors, douches and specialized vitamins.
"The three factors that GenSelect addresses are intercourse timing, vaginal vault pH and chemistry," Sweazy said.
Dr. Joseph Sanfilippo, of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said there's little scientific evidence that these methods improve the odds of gender choice.
"The problem here is there's a lack of such well-studied research when we look at these kits related to gender selection," Sanfilippo said. "I would definitely say buyer beware."
The Food and Drug Administration said GenSelect is not approved for gender selection, but some of the individual components are approved for gynecological purposes.
"The components that require FDA approval are the ovulation predictor and the digital body thermometer," Sweazy said.
The Andrology Institute of America is selling another kit online for just under $1,000. It uses semen separation and insemination. Institute founder, Dr. Panos Zavos, is most known for his controversial human cloning experiments.
"Placing the semen inside the vaginal cavity when they receive it is not a rocket engineer's type of a procedure," Zavos said. "But, in spite of that, we warn them that artificial insemination is a physician-prescribed procedure."
Embryologist Etta Volk warns that self-insemination can cause infection. She also cautions if sperm is not properly stored and shipped, odds of getting pregnant drop.
"It could lose its motility if it's exposed to extreme temperatures," said Volk. "It could compromise the viability of the sample."
Dr. Zavos dismisses the criticism and reports seeing an 80 percent success rate for male selection and 72 percent for female.
"Anything that we place inside this technology is sound and it works," he said.
Bio-ethicists like Arthur Caplan worry about what happens when gender-selection kits don't deliver as promised.
"You say you want a boy; you buy the manual; you do what it says; you don't get the boy. Well, are you going to take it out on the child?" he said.
There also are techniques available at some fertility clinics and doctors offices to aid gender selection, including the sperm-sorting technique called "microsort."
The American Society for Reproductive Medicine said it is awaiting further research before taking a position.
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