Historical Newspapers of South Carolina

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Home kits claim to help parents choose baby's sex BY LINDSEY TANNER TIIK ASSOCIATED 1'HKSS CHICAGO — Boy or girl? Now you can pick the sex of your baby in the privacy of your own home. Or so the Internet sellers of sex-se lection kits would have you believe. The latest fad in babymaking offers guaranteed, worry-free gen der selection for just $199 plus shipping. But that hasn’t stopped en trepreneurs from trying to capi talize on demand among some prospective parents. The phenomenon first gained attention when some U.S. fertility clinics began offering gender se lection for non-medical reasons through costly, often invasive medical procedures. But it’s been taken to a different level by purveyors of unproven home-use products, who are milk ing the increasing awareness about more legitimate sex selection meth ods and hoping to draw some of the same potential customers, said University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan. The only two medical proce dures that experts say are legiti mate — a method requiring in vit ro fertilization and the experi mental MicroSort sperm-sorting technique — have raised ethical concerns about designer babies and gender bias. A Fairfax, Va., clinic that offers the $2,300 MicroSort technique re cently ran national newspaper ads seeking to recruit patients with the headline: “Do you want to choose the gender of your next baby?” But home-use products that guarantee results with things like douches, vitamins and do-it-your self artificial insemination kits pose different ethical problems be cause “they’re promising things they can’t deliver,” Caplan said. “There absolutely is an audi ence of people who are interested in” gender selection, said Richard Rawlins, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology research at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. “The old standby is ‘caveat emptor—buyer beware. ’” One home-use product is the GenSelect system, featuring boy and girl kits offered over the Internet at $199 apiece plus ship ping. It is touted as being 96 per cent effective if properly used. GenSelect patents were approved earlier this year, said Dr. Scott Sweazy, a South Carolina urolo gist who helped create the system. The kits include a thermometer to help predict ovulation, special douches and “gender specific” mineral and herbal pills. Sweazy said thousands of kits have been sold worldwide since the Web site started three years ago, and that business has tripled in the past year. He said he did not have information on how many babies of the desired gender have been born with GenSelect, and a spokesman said sales figures are confidential. “We have some people who didn’t get the gender that they chose,” Sweazy said, “but virtual ly every one of them didn’t do it right.” Veronica Moister of Lake Worth, Fla., said she’s almost seven months pregnant with the girl she wanted thanks to GenSelect. She found their site while Web surfing and was pretty doubtful at first. “It seemed far-fetched and it was online so you never know what you’re getting,” said Moister, 32, who already has a young son. She said she and her husband considered MicroSort but didn’t want to travel to Virginia, so they tried the low-tech method instead, figuring they’d be perfectly happy if they conceived a boy instead. Moister said she became a con vert when she learned she was car rying a girl. Many doctors remain skeptical and say luck mostly explains such success stories. Some “old wives’ tales” meth ods like timing intercourse close to ovulation for a boy or douching with vinegar for a girl could theo retically slightly jmprove a Cou ple’s chances of success, but they’re scientifically unproven, Rawlins said. www.dailygamecock.com Now five days a week. CREATIVE SERVICES IS LOOKING FORA STUDENT Graphic Designer FOR SUMMER & FALL 2004 Great opportunity to earn money and gain experience in print advertising. Designer is responsible for creating advertisements that run in The Gamecock newspaper and the Garnet & Black Magazine, as well as brochures, logos, flyers and other promotional marketing material. Some experience in Illustrator, Photoshop and Quark needed. Monday - Friday, 20 flexible hours per week. Organized, efficient and creative people should apply. Apply online at www.ia.ic.edu/itudentmedla or drop by Student Media, Russell House, Rm. 343 to fill out an application. ■e( ■frufrifo TREE! Mean &ean Soft Taco we do things different... Quick! Healthy! Fresh! 934 Harden St/jfy-uSS valid through 4/2LOCM- — one per customer PRESENT COUPON & STUDENT ID It’s painful to watch, ■ We don’t know how Jesus Christ felt as he took the pain of scourging and crucifixion; he was silent in his defense. 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