Portal:Feminism/Selected article/11

The Baby Gender Mentor test is a blood test designed to determine if a pregnant mother is carrying a boy or a girl. The test is made by Acu-Gen Biolab, Inc., an American biotech company in Lowell, Massachusetts, and is marketed to detect the sex of a fetus as early as five weeks after conception. According to Acu-Gen, the test looks for markers on the Y chromosome and the accuracy of the test exceeds that of conventional methods, such as ultrasonography, amniocentesis, or chorionic villus sampling techniques, and that the test offers "unsurpassed accuracy, unrivaled earliness, and uncompromised promptness". The company has so far chosen not to release details of how the test works or proof of its accuracy, as they consider this information proprietary. Since the test made a prominent media debut on 17 June 2005 on the Today Show, it has been the center of several controversies. Customers and scientists question the accuracy of the test; and legal action is being pursued against Acu-Gen as well as a major supplier of the test kit. Concerns have also been raised by bioethicists that use of the test could lead to practices such as sex selection and Acu-Gen has allegedly used the test to illegally offer medical diagnoses.