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Tuesday, November 12, 2002The whole thing (the chemistry, that is) takes about 30 minutes. Tests offered as part of the FDA approval process showed the FertilMARQ test matching professional test results 87 percent of the time, with home testers getting the same results as pros 141 out of 158 times when the FertilMARQ results were positive and 27 out of 36 times for negatives, according to Lake Consumer Products. It only measures, in a rough way, the quantity, not the quality of sperm, which is just as important when it comes to assessing infertility. It also costs forty dollars, which is the same price you pay to have a lab or physician's office count the sperm under the microscope. (Although sometimes the professional test can cost more if they do more testing on the specimen, such as pH and motility.) Of course, an over-the-counter test has the added advantage of privacy . But professional testing can also use samples that have been collected at home. Providing a specimen doesn't necessarily mean performing in a cold, sterile, exam room. In the long run, it's probably not going to prove that useful. Unless it's used this way: Stillman agrees that the product's biggest market will be women, but has a different take on how they'll put it to use. "I can see a lot of women using it surreptitiously" to check their partners' sperm concentration, Stillman says. "Kind of like a pre-nup," he adds. This prospect appears to dumbfound Dorman. "I never heard that," he says. "I don't know how to respond." After a moment, though, he adds, "If a woman's going to do that, you might want to think twice about marrying her." posted by Sydney on 11/12/2002 06:35:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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