Word: ericsson
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...latest method that purports to select the sex of offspring is the brainchild of Ronald Ericsson, founder of Gametrics Ltd. of Sausalito, Calif. Ericsson, who has a Ph.D. in reproductive physiology, is the coauthor, with University of California Obstetrician Robert Glass, of a 1982 book, Getting Pregnant in the 1980s. Gametrics' aggressively marketed method has stirred popular interest, but many scientists are skeptical. "This could be Landrum Shettles all over again," says Dr. Joe Leigh Simpson, a spokesman for the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology...
...Ericsson's theory is based on the fact that sperm carrying the Y chromosome move somewhat faster than sperm carrying the X. To select males, a sample of semen is placed at the top of a glass column containing a solution of albumin, a sticky protein normally present in such bodily fluids as blood and semen. After an hour, more Y-containing sperm than sluggish Xs should have sped to the bottom. The Y sperm are further concentrated by being run through increasingly thicker solutions of albumin. "It's like making them run the Boston Marathon with overshoes...
Gametrics has licensed its patented procedure to 24 fertility clinics around the world, from Gretna, La., to Amman, Jordan. (In the U.S., such technology is not subject to federal regulation.) The clinics pay Ericsson's company up to $15,000 in licensing fees, and many overseas clinics also buy sperm-separation materials from Gametrics. The Gametrics procedure generally costs between $225 and $350, and three or four inseminations are often needed before pregnancy occurs. Customers come to these clinics for a variety of reasons. Many already have children of one gender and wish to ensure that their next child...
...Ericsson responds to this criticism by charging, "Quality control went to hell at Michael Reese."Dr. Paul Dmowski, who left the program at Reese, also questions standards there. Dmowski, now at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke's Medical Center in Chicago, continues to use Ericsson's method and claims a success rate of about...
...consumers had best beware. "With all of today's sophistication about reproduction, the biology of sex selection remains a mystery," observes Elizabeth Whelan, director of the American Council on Science and Health, a consumer-education group, and author of Boy or Girl?, a 1977 book on sex selection. "Ericsson may be on to something," she allows, "but he hasn't proved it yet." -By Claudia Wallis...