WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Experts Say Online Gender Test Unreliable

Experts Say Online Gender Test Unreliable

By Lori Lyle

(LOUISVILLE) -- Pregnant moms across the country may be putting their unborn babies in danger because of a new gender test. The test claims to tell parents the sex of their baby as early as five weeks into the pregnancy. But as Medical Reporter Lori Lyle explains, the information doesn't stop there, and some of it can be disturbing.

The exclusive supplier of the Baby Gender Mentor Test is a site called www.pregnancystore.com based in Illinois. It claims more than a 99.9 percent accuracy.

But when that test doesn't match the standard ultrasound received during visits to the doctor, mothers everywhere are being told that there may be something seriously wrong with their unborn child.

Danielle Hardy has spent months getting ready for her new baby, but for awhile she wasn't sure if she would be having a boy or a girl.

She had a blue and yellow nursery in case it's a boy, but her hospital bag was overflowing with pink.

She even had two names picked out: Sarah Kate for a girl, and John Riley for a boy.

"It's just been an emotional roller coaster," Danielle said.

The reason for Danielle's confusion stems from a test she had early in her pregnancy. She paid $275 and sent six drops of blood to www.pregnancystore.com for a baby gender mentor test.

The website has been offering the exclusive test since 2004, and representatives say it can reveal the sex of an unborn baby as early as five weeks into the pregnancy with 99.9 percent accuracy.

The website cites 14 years of trials that predicted the gender of thousands of babies.

After the test, Danielle spent two months preparing to have her third boy. But several ultrasounds at her doctor's office indicate she is carrying a girl.

Jonna, who has been reading ultrasound results for 17 years says it's a girl, and "nobody's ever told me that I was wrong."

Until the mentor test. After that, Dr. Matt McDanald, Danielle's OB-GYN, said "she was distraught. She had just had her ultrasound. And I thought: 'what's wrong?' I looked at the pictures everything looked great."

Dr. McDanald started researching www.pregnancystore.com immediately and said he quickly "realized there wasn't any peer-reviewed data, that I couldn't see data myself -- that nobody had seen the data, they haven't published the data."

So there's no accessible proof of the studies or the 99.9 percent accuracy the website claims. Still, the website's president, Sherry Bonelli stands by the claims.

Danielle says Bonelli wrote to her and said the test is scientifically based, and that Acu-Gen, the lab that runs the test, "has never been wrong."

So Danielle says she agreed to a free re-test, and "not only did it say 'boy,' but 'boy and boy only.'"

Bonelli's email also said "all the science is greek to me, but the lab suggests you get a "karyotyping of the chromosomes of the baby. You may want to talk to your doctor about what that means?"

Danielle says she really became concerned by the email after doing a keyword search on the Internet. "You type in 'karyotype' on the Internet, and there's all these terrible things. You're just sitting here by yourself in tears, thinking 'what's wrong with my baby?'"

Dr. McDanald says the website has now "gone above and beyond" simply telling the sex of the baby by listing possible abnormalities.

And Danielle isn't the only pregnant woman who has been confused and upset by the website's results.

At a website called www.ingender.com parents are posting their test results as well as their ultrasounds.

In many cases, the ultrasounds don't match up to the test results.

To make matters worse for Danielle, Bonelli sent her a long list of things that could be wrong with her baby.

After reviewing the list, Dr. McDanald says it's highly unlikely that Danielle's baby has any of the abnormalities listed. "The incidences of these type of conditions are so low."

But that hasn't stopped many women with alarming reports from www.pregnancystore.com from undergoing invasive tests like amniocentesis, where a hollow needle is surgically inserted through the abdominal wall and into the uterus to determine the sex and check for abnormal chromosomes.

Dr. McDanald says that test doesn't come without risk. "At certain points of gestation, there's about a one in 200 pregnancy loss rate with that procedure."

The results of amniocentesis tests have also been posted on www.ingender.com, and it turns out those results have confirmed that the ultrasounds -- not the blood test -- was right.

Experts say using a blood test to determine the gender of a fetus may one day be possible, but McDanald now dismisses it as nothing more than "a consumer-driven medical test that's passed off as legitimate and valid."

So now Danielle is making plans to welcome little Sarah Kate on December 26th.

The website store does offer a 200 percent money back guarantee upon receipt of a copy of a birth certificate showing the gender was other than its test results.

Bonelli says four refunds have been issued, including one for a vanishing twin.

Of course, many of the babies in question have yet to be born.

Meanwhile, the Illinois Attorney General's office is investigating www.pregnancystore.com and AcuGen.

Online Reporter: Lori Lyle

Online Producer: Michael Dever