7 Healthcast: Baby Gender Home DNA Test

"We have message boards, pregnancy message boards that are just buzzing about the new technology," Sherry Bonelli of pregnancystore.com said.

Until now, parents have had to wait three or four months into a pregnancy to learn the sex of their child. That's when an ultrasound or genetic test can reveal if it's a boy or girl. But now a new test claims it can give results at only five weeks.

"We've actually seen a huge response as far as people inquiring about the service and the product," Bonelli said.

The Baby Gender Mentor Home DNA Testing Kit is marketed over the Internet by pregnancystore.com.

Here’s how it works: A woman takes a small blood sample and sends it back to the company for testing. Because a tiny amount of the unborn baby's blood circulates in the mother's blood, scientists use that for the test sample.

After amplifying the DNA from mom's blood, the company looks for traces of a y or male chromosome. If one is there, it's a boy. If there is no Y chromosome, it's a girl. The company claims the test is highly accurate.

"The lab is saying its 99.9 percent. They've actually followed more than 2000 women throughout their pregnancy that actually took the test, the lab determined the gender and they've never been wrong," Bonelli said.

It's important to note that such testing is not subject to FDA regulation.

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