Don't you hate it when you spend upwards of $300 on an unproven
at-home genetics testing kit that you ordered online to find out
whether you were pregnant with a boy or a girl and then you made lots
of decisions based on the results and -- crap! -- the damn thing gave
you the wrong results?
If I had a nickel everytime that happened, I'd be as rich as the people who sell these things. Now, if you fell for the marketing and spent your future offspring's college starter fund, you're not alone.
Tons of people are laying out the cash, smearing drops of their blood onto a small piece of paper and then sending the paper in for results. The kits, unregulated by the FDA since they make no claims related to health, only the sex of the fetus. Many promise a 97 percent accuracy and claim they can make the determination as early as eight weeks into a pregnancy. But some are questioning these claims and have joined together to sue one company in particular, Acu-Gen and its owner, Chang-ning Wang.
One misinformed couple used the sex determination kit to see if their third child would be yet another girl. The test said "it's a boy," the doctor said, "it's a girl!" That couple isn't suing, and while they love their third daughter as much as the first, the underlying subtext is that had the test said "girl," they would have aborted the fetus. They were surprised in the birthing room because ultrasound techs where they live are prohibited from determining fetuses sex precisely to avoid sex selective actions.
Other versions of these kits claim to mine DNA for information on ethnic heritage, lost relatives and best weight loss plans or sports for your type. Best weight loss? Don't tell me, based on my genetics it would be best to decrease caloric intake and increase exercise ... this stuff is genius!
Did you use one of these kits? Did you get accurate results? Or is this just the 21st Century version of dangling wedding bands over a pregnant belly?
