EXCLUSIVE: Flushable Pregnancy Test Launched
| 19th November 2017
We’ve all been there. A wild night, an accidental stumble and the next thing you know you’re in a crowded clinic looking at a “Condoms Are Your Friends” poster. You’d rather take a test at home but you’re worried your friends or family might notice the packaging. It’s a nightmare.
Luckily, the world’s first flushable pregnancy test has been launched and will be available to buy next year.
Created in 2015 by Anna Simpson and Bethany Edwards, Lia is a discreet biodegradable product which aims to help both women and the environment.
The businesswomen coined the idea when they were studying for Masters in Integrated Product Design at the University of Pennsylvania. Edwards explained their muse as being “driven more from the sustainability side, but then we also realised that no one had innovated the pregnancy test in the form aspect for more than 30 years”.
Lia claims that it will end the awkwardness you might face from having to conceal a normal pregnancy test. It could also provide safety from judgement, abuse and violence by being instantly folded and flushed away.
Statistics show that one in six pregnancies in the UK aren’t planned, with the majority of these being young women, and Salford is a particular hot-spot with 46% of young women becoming pregnant in 2013. The new invention claims it could lower these figures by giving women enough time to decide if they want to keep the baby if their results come back positive.
@Lia
Lia could also urge people to stop going to NHS clinics for the same procedure. With appointment waiting times soaring by 10,546 per cent in five years, an effective home pregnancy test seems a necessity.
An average pregnancy test is made with non-sustainable materials which end up in landfill, but Lia is an environmentally-friendly substitute. Made from the natural plant fibres in standard toilet paper, the test is resistant just long enough for the results to be shown.
Anna Simpson described Lia’s USP as being “the only discreet pregnancy test made with zero glass fibres, batteries, plastic or nitrocellulose”.
HOW IT WORKS
Karina Boukersi, a health practitioner and midwife, explains how the current pregnancy test works and how it has become outdated since its 1978 advertisement which called it “a private little revolution that any woman can easily buy at her drugstore”.
Lia works like a traditional pregnancy test, reacting to urine and showing one line for negative results and two if you’re expecting. According to their website, there is a 99 per cent accuracy rate if the test is taken on the first day of a period.
The product follows on from the mCycle tampon, another sustainable female health product which can be used in compost.
Not everyone thinks Lia is a good idea though; I asked women in Salford for their reactions. 18 year old Louise* said she wouldn’t think of using the product. The Drama student told me, “I don’t see anything wrong with the current pregnancy test. They seem cheaper and more reliable. You should just throw the test outside when you’re done and no one will know”. Meanwhile 57 year old Patricia* says women shouldn’t have the choice of a home pregnancy test. “Too much freedom. If you can go about having sex, you can have kids”, she muses.
What’s your opinion? We’d love to hear it in the comments.
// The test will be available on Amazon. Prices are expected to be £10-£20.
*Names changed for privacy.