A History of Pregnancy Tests

Pregnancy tests have a colorful history tracing back to 1350 BC -- and, as you might imagine, the methods have varied greatly over the centuries. In this episode, Caroline and Cristen look at the history of pregnancy tests.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Brought to you by the reinvented two thousand twelve Camray.
It's ready. Are you welcome to stuff Mom never told you?
From house stuff Works dot com. Hello, and welcome to
the podcast. I am Caroline and I'm Kristen. So, Kristen,

(00:21):
do you like to garden? I would like to be
able to garden. Yeah. I don't have a much of
a green thumb, but sometimes, you know, I go to
Target or wherever and or the local gardening store and
pick up some seeds. Um. But the things that I
do with the seeds are a little bit different than
what they used to do with the seeds in ancient Egypt. Yes,

(00:43):
in terms of you probably water your seeds do whereas
in ancient Egypt you might have urinated on your seeds. Right,
And this is not actually about gardening today, we're talking
about pregnancy does Yes, the history of pregnancy tests. This
is um many times over requested podcast topic, and I'm

(01:06):
so glad that people have requested it because, as you
can probably imagine, pregnancy tests have a pretty colorful history,
tracing back to thirteen fifty BC in ancient Egypt and
where pregnancy tests involved urinating on seeds and This is
from a great timeline that we found from the National Institutes. Right,

(01:31):
they would women would urinate on barley seeds and wheat seeds,
and if the barley seeds sprouted, the woman was thought
to be carrying a boy, whereas if the wheat grew,
she would be painting her pyramid nursery pain. Uh. And
if neither sprouted, she supposedly would not be pregnant. Yeah,
and this sounds really ridiculous, like this would definitely not
work or have any sort of significance at all. But actually,

(01:54):
in the nineteen sixties and scientists tested this and found
that pregnant women's urine actually did promote seed growth, whereas
like if you were not pregnant or if you're a man,
no di y sevent of the time. So maybe we
should bring that back, go buy some wheat seeds. You know,
I'm just not going to go with that. That's just

(02:15):
not enough. But it would be a completely organic pregnancy
tests true, But what a mess? Well, I mean, where
did you keep it? I mean, I I don't really
want to answer that question in detail on this podcast.
You could you could somehow make it happen. But moving
on and also speaking and speaking of urine, because urine

(02:35):
comes up a lot in pregnancy tests, still have to
do it, and it's it go. This is actually one
of the earliest examples of primitive year analysis, which is
what pregnancy tests today are. It's just a form of
your analysis. But during the Middle Ages, and this is
up through the seventeenth century, some men who were called

(02:57):
and this is this is a little bit crass, but
this is actually what they were called. This is from
sided in National Institutes of Health. Google it. It's all
over the place. Piss profits. Right, These men called piss
profits would examine the color of someone's urine and the
description is horrific. Oh yeah, if a woman had and
this is wow, just so so specific. If a woman

(03:21):
had clear pale lemon color leaning toward off white, having
a cloud on its surface, Yeah, congratulations, you're pregnant because
you're urine is cloudy. Yeah. Um. Well. They'd also mix
wine with urine to test for any visible reaction that

(03:41):
might happen. And alcohol actually does react with certain proteins
in urine, so this might have been successful sometimes. Yeah.
The thing is these uh, these ancient medics were not
all that off base in their obsession with women's urine
to test for pregnancy. In the early twentieth century, scientists

(04:02):
identified two key hormones that have to do with pregnancy.
We've got progesterone, which is a hormone that promotes gest station,
and then they identified the hormone h c G human
choreonic gonadotropin, which is produced only when or shortly after
I should say a fertilized egg attaches to the uterine

(04:23):
lining right. And the same scientists who identified h c
G UH tested for pregnancy by injecting a woman's urine
into an immature rodent and if there was a reaction uh.
This is the so called a Z test because based
on their last names ash I'm and Zondeck. Could I

(04:45):
be pronouncing those corrects? I think? According to this test,
if the rodent went into heat despite its immaturity, it
would mean that the woman to whom the urine belonged
was preggers. And this is an example of a bioassay,
which means that some kind of chemical or hormone in
humans could have a reaction in another and animals the mammal,

(05:08):
but you can have a bio essay between between two
different animals. It doesn't just have to be human too rodent, right,
And this test was taken a step further by Lancelot Hogben,
who is not a fictional Harry Potter character Bin in
South Africa. He adapted the test to be conducted using frogs,
but for some reason that one really never took off.

(05:31):
The probably kept hopping away. Uh. But then in the
nineteen thirties we have Dr Maurice Friedman at the University
of Pennsylvania discover that injecting yearine into a female rabbit
could detect pregnancy. Hence we have the rabbit test, which
is why. And I don't want to I don't want
to give away anything for those of you who have

(05:54):
not caught up with all your mad men, I've never
seen it. Well, it takes place, as you probably know,
in the sixties, and there is a character who at
some point has to go get a rabbit test man
they were still doing in the sixties. Yeah, and that's
what what made me, what made me think about it.
And there's also an episode of mash Yeah with Hot

(06:14):
Lips or Hot Lips has to go and they want
to kill radars rabbit yeah. Um yeah, Well basically this
test works by injecting urine again into a rabbit, and
if hCG is present, it tricks the rabbit's body into
thinking it's pregnant and stimulates the ovaries and um. It
kind of spurs the growth of these tissue structures called

(06:37):
the corpora lutia and corpora him or agica um. But
or fortunately for the rabbit, the only way to tell
if the things were growing is to youthanize and dissect. Yes. Um.
So that's why there was a common phrase the rabbit
died to say that a woman is pregnant. It's sort
of a grim way to announce your pregnant, right, because

(06:59):
it has to do. But the thing is, though this
was I think from snopes dot com. They were clearing
up the phrase of the rabbit is dying meaning that
a woman is definitely pregnant. Because the thing is, if
the rabbit died, she could be pregnant or not, because
no matter what test it the rabbits, the rabbit always dies,

(07:20):
whether you're pregnant or not. Um. We get into more
non animal science, non involving rabbits and the right. In
the seventies UM, when greater strides were made towards the
tests were more familiar with now UM scientists still weren't
exactly sure about the role of hCG and normal pregnancy,
or what normal level should be. But in six the

(07:44):
f d A f d A approval was sought for
the early pregnancy tests, which actually became known as the
Error Proof Test or EPT, and uh in nineteen seventy
seven EPT was ready for the US market. Yeah, and
we can we have actually cancer search to thank for
the home pregnancy tests because hCG shows up when a

(08:07):
woman or when a Ferlie's egg attaches to the uterine lining,
like I said earlier, but it also shows up in
the development of certain cancers. So some scientists were looking
into whether or not they could develop some sort of
early cancer detection tests in along the way, we're able
at the same time to develop these home pregnancy tests UM, which,

(08:29):
as you can imagine, this isn't too too long after
birth control arrives on the market. What was it nineteen
seventy two is the year I want to say, when
it became available to married and unmarried women alike. Uh.
So then you have a few years later following on that,
the at home pregnancy tests and like you said in

(08:51):
n becomes advertised in major women's magazines, including Mademoiselle, McCall's
read book, etcetera. Right, so it was pretty much widespread
and except did by then. And actually one article in
nineteen seventy nine and one of these women's magazines said
it was you know, it was giving props to the
home pregnancy test because it said that it protected women's
privacy who didn't want their doctors to know they were

(09:13):
sexually active. Right, because they could still be taboo to
go if you're a single woman to go into your
doctor's office and have to get a pregnancy test and
then be slight shamed by your gynecologists, that's not that's
no fun. And one of the one of the advertisements
from this is coming from nineteen seventy eight in Mademoiselle says,
for your ten dollars, you get a pre measured you

(09:34):
get pre measured ingredients consisting of a vial of purified water,
a test tube containing, among other things, sheep red blood cells,
as well as a medical dropper, and a clear plastic
support for the test tube with an angled mirror at
the bottom. You can pretend to be a scientist. Yes,
you have to be a little bit of a scientist.
And there is a description of a woman who had, uh,

(09:55):
you know, she was recalling taking one of these very
early at home pregnancy tests, and she said that it
really wasn't that easy to use, as you can imagine
from all of the things that come in this box
for your ten dollars, She said, you pretty much felt
like a chemist. And you had to put the drops
of urine into a tube and shake it up, and
put a stick with white beads in it, and hold

(10:16):
the tube and turned upside down. There's no way I
would enough. Yeah, so, uh, it has since come a
long way, and in two thousand three, the f d
A approved clear Blue Easies digital pregnancy tests that got
rid of the line that she had to detect and
just says pregnant not pregnant, right, easy enough? Yeah, I
mean I would still take fifty. I would make sure

(10:39):
to get fifty. I pull a Murphy Brown. Well that's
a good yes, I did just reference TV show. Collaborate
on your Murphy Brown reference. Please no Murphy Brown in
a in an episode of your own, took what was
it twenty or twenty one pregnancy tests and then they
were all positive, So I would absolutely murphy out. We'll see.

(11:00):
That was the question that I had as I was
researching home pregnancy tests. Accuracy. Can we trust these tests?
And they're they're pretty reliable. According to web MD, web
and B suggests you take a pregnancy test when you
experience in this period nausea, breast tenderness, fatigue, right, and

(11:21):
but most sources also suggest you wait until after you've
missed a period, because if you take it any earlier,
the level of hCG could be too low, or the
embryo might not have been implanted yet. So all these
tests that say oh yeah, nine accuracy, like the day
after you have sex, I'd wait a little bit. Yeah,
you might want to You might want to wait. And
also you have to take into account if you've had

(11:41):
a lot of liquids right before you take your tests,
it could dilute the result. Um. And here's here's the
one thing about home pregnancy tests that is a little
a little troubling. A false negative saying that you are
not pregnant when in act you are, is more common.

(12:03):
It's more common than a false positive, especially if, like
you said, Caroline, if you take the tests a little
too soon, um, before you've missed that that first period, right.
And actually, there are several things that can affect whether
you get the correct answer. UM, if you're taking fertility
drugs that contain hCG, you risk getting a false positive. UM. Also,

(12:28):
if you've recently been pregnant, if you have ovarian cysts,
have experienced an eck topic pregnancy, or if you're a
menopausal you risk getting a false positive. So those are
just some some things to keep in mind. It's not
saying that home pregnancy tests aren't very reliable. You just
have to, you know, keep in mind that there are
a lot of different things going on to detect that
actually detect that hc G. And I just want to

(12:50):
assure people that UM, most medicines do not affect pregnancy tests,
and so if you're on birth control or antibiotics, don't worry.
And even though we have just outlined a number of
caveats about home pregnancy tests, statistically they are nine accurate
if you follow the directions carefully. And of course, as

(13:11):
we always say in the podcast with anything related to
the female body, if you're concerned, go see your doctor,
Go see your nurse practitioner. Get a year in tests there,
or you can go take a blood test, which is
performed at a doctor's office, which is used less often,
but it can detect pregnancy earlier, although it takes longer
to get the results. Right, So, if you want to

(13:32):
be really sure and you're okay with waiting, yeah, definitely
go to your doctor. Yeah, absolutely. Um. And of course
if your pregnancy tests says that you're pregnant, then you
should doctor. That's a that's a good time. But here's
here's the thing. Um. We found this article on feminism
and home pregnancy tests asking the question of whether or

(13:53):
not home pregnant home pregnancy tests are a feminist technology,
and I fully expected the answer to be a resounding yes. Yeah.
And Lynda Lane, Uh, the article is called the home
pregnancy test a feminist technology question mark. Um, she says no,
but they're not because it takes away women's autonomy and

(14:14):
self knowledge. Right, Because going into this research, I expected
it to assume that the answer would be yes, because
I think you mentioned earlier that one of the articles
from nine says, finally, women, we don't have to you know,
you don't have to get risk going to the doctor
and being shamed if you need to take a pregnancy test,
but she says that home pregnancy tests have actually kind

(14:38):
of undercut the need for better women's health care and
prenatal care because we can now just go to the
drug store and for ten bucks fifteen bucks go by
a home pregnancy test, or you can even get like
a value pack a pregnancy test and and take care
of it like that. And she says that fifteen confirmed

(14:58):
pregnancies and end early spontaneous abortion a k A miscarriage,
and since most occur within the first weeks of pregnancy,
she argues that there are advantages to take performing the
test later, which there are. I mean, that's like we said,
you need to wait until you miss that first period,
probably to get better. Yeah. She says that that, uh,

(15:18):
giving yourself a test too early could lead to undo stress,
whether you whether the pregnancy is wanted or whether it's not.
Because you know, let's say you do want to be pregnant,
you're very excited, you've been trying. You take that test
really early and it says positive, and then you're one
of those people who have an early miscarriage. That could

(15:39):
you know, be heartbreaking. But then you know, there's also
the other side where let's say somebody doesn't want this pregnancy,
it was not expected, then they've got to start thinking about,
oh my gosh, well, what am I gonna do? You know?
Am I going to have this baby? Am I not?
You know, a lot to think about when you know,
if you would just wait a while, you know well.
And Lane also argues that the availability of home pregnant

(16:00):
schut kind of having that fail safe they're at the
drug store that anyone can go out and purchase, has
distracted us from paying closer attention to our bodies, to
our menstrual cycles, to our reproductive systems, and not paying
attention to the physical signs that might indicate pregnancy, instead

(16:21):
relying on massive drug companies to sell us these these
urine sticks. Yeah, she says, the only feminist pregnancy test
is to listen to your body, to all those things
that Web and d talked about, the misperiod, nausea, breath tenderness,
and fatigue. Although I think it's a compelling point, though,
she says that, uh, one feminist method to determine if

(16:42):
you're pregnant is by doing a pelvic self exam or
having I don't know, I don't know about that exactly.
I don't know how to do a pelvic self exam.
Maybe that you know this is a I don't. I
don't have a speculum lying around, yes, she says. Um,
a contributor to the National Institutes of Health website, recalls
having had a plastic speculum them around from the do
it Yourself Pelvic Exam days where they're doing it yourself

(17:04):
pelvic exam days, I missed them, apparently, and she said
she used to diagnose her first pregnancy by observing changes
in her cervix. I think that would be but but okay, okay,
that don't terrify, so calm me down. You do look
kind of terrified. But that would be pretty incredible to
be that in tune with your body, that you can

(17:26):
observe the own changes in your service. I get where
Lane is coming from me. I think that I'm not
I'm not completely on board with this notion that home
pregnancy tests are anti feminists, but I get what she's saying.
I think that perhaps we should um expand the I
don't want to say arsenal because that sounds so militant.

(17:49):
Perhaps expand the resources available to us including perhaps do
it yourself pelvic self examples. I'm not doing it, and
I mean, but I'm not, Caroline Lane. Also, she also
says that a friend could help you do it. So
you know what, Kristen, what are you doing later? What? No?
I really I like my kind ofcologist. I've gone to

(18:12):
her for ten years. I will stick with her and
listeners out there if you have, if you have any
recollection of the do it yourself pelvic Exam days, or
if you're familiar with this in doing pelvis pelvic self exams,
please write us in and let us know. I'm genuinely
curious to know more. I've never heard about it. Yeah, um,

(18:33):
and I think with that, I think that's our history
of home pregnancy, just a brief history of being on
seeds and killing rabbits. But how fascinating though. We have
to learn about piss profit, I know, and about what
they looked for in urine, which grosses me out. That's
gonna be my new It's my my favorite fact of
the week, Caroline. You know, that's my new band name. Also, yes,
we should start the profits band name. And it's so Yeah.

(18:56):
If you'd like to join our band, send us an
email mom stuff at how so works dot com and
I have an email here from Daniel. I just have
one to to read today because it's just so great.
This is my It's actually my favorite, one of my
favorite emails we've ever gotten. Um. This is in response
to our episode on douching entitled Bagga douche and it

(19:18):
goes like this. Your Douche podcast reminded me of a
traumatic episode of my childhood during the time period when
Mass and Gil was airing your favorite commercial so eloquently
acted out during the podcast, I thank you, and my
older brother and cousin put me up to something dastardly.
I was perhaps seven or eight, and the older children
convinced me that I should go up to my grandmother

(19:39):
and re enact said commercial while they hid outside her
bedroom door. I slowly stepped into the room and asked, No, Grandma,
can I ask you a personal question? Yes, Daniel, Grandma,
do you douche? No? But I used to we don't
have sex anymore. No. I ran from the room screaming,

(20:02):
while my brother and cousin died laughing in the hallway.
Your podcast, while also informative, brought me back to this
humorous memory of my childhood. I now need to devise
an appropriate revenge for my brother's great grandmom. Do you
do you got a little more information than he requested?
So thank you to everyone who has written in mom

(20:23):
stuff at how stuff works dot com is the email address,
and if there's anything about the history of home pregnancy
tests we fail to leave out, send it our way please,
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or you can alert us on Twitter. Our tag is
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(20:44):
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Work staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing
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(21:07):
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