5/14/2011 Private Practice: Home health-test sales s…

HOME U.S. POLITICS WORLD BUSINESS TECHLAND HEALTH SCIENCE ARTS TRAVEL PHOTOS VIDEO SPECIALS MAGAZINE NEWSFEED

SEARCH TIME.COM
NEWSLETTERS
U.S. MOBILE APPS
Main Swampland Battleland The Page Intelligent Cities People Videos
ADD TIME NEWS

Private Practice: Home health-test sales swell

By DEPARTMENT Monday, Apr. 18, 2005

Most Popular » Full List »

More on MORE M OST READ MOST EMAILED
TIME.com
Like Be the first of your friends to like this. 1 . Jon Huntsm an: Th e Would Be Republican
Presidentia l Ca ndidate Dem ocrats Most Fear
2. Look Up! A Rare Pla netary Alignment,
For years the thermometer was the lone device in most Visible from Earth
0 homes for checking a family's health. If a woman 3. Berating General Pasha : Pakistan's Spy Ch ief
Gets a Tongu e-Lash ing
thought she was pregnant, she talked to her
4. NASA's Nex t Goal: Mars, Titan or Comet?
gynecologist. If a man had chest pains, he consulted a 5. Starv ing th e Rebellion: Sy ria's Bru tal
cardiologist. If someone was a diabetic, he visited an internist who Ta ctics
6. Bridesmaids: Kristin Wiig's Merry Band of
could check the sugar content of his blood. Party Poopers
Top 10 Movie
7 . Big Love in Abbotta bad: How Osam a bin
Wedding Laden Kept Three Wiv es Under One Roof
Today, however, health tests designed for home use make it
Scenes 8. Too Much Wa ter: Arm y Corps Will Delu ge
possible to identify and monitor many conditions without seeing th e Ba y ou to Sa v e the Big Easy
the doctor. Uncomplicated do-it-yourself tests can be routinely 9. Inside Rom an Polanski's Polish Secret-Serv ice
File
obtained without prescription in drugstores across the U.S. For
1 0. Tiger Mom s: Is Tou gh Parenting Rea lly th e
diabetics, Miles Laboratories makes the $150 Glucometer, which Answer?
registers blood-sugar count. A diabetic applies a drop of blood to a
50¢ chemically treated strip, which is then fed into the machine.
Recommendations
For couples hoping to have children, Tampax introduced in April a
urine test that can pinpoint when a woman will be ovulating. Is Israel Using Gay Rights to Excuse Its
Osama Bin Policy on Palestine?
Laden: 9/11 Because of such advances, the fledgling self-care industry is in 440 people shared this.
Mastermind robust health. Last year revenues from home tests totaled about The Interrupted Reading: The Kids with
is Dead George W. Bush on 9/11
$800 million, according to Creative Strategies Research. One John Anderson and 7,561 people shared this.
industry leader, Warner-Lambert (1984 sales: $3.2 billion), Look Up! A Rare Planetary Alignment,
predicts the home health-kit market will grow 27% annually for Visible from Earth
5,047 people shared this.
the next five years. C.B. Fleet's kits for detecting blood in the stool-
-a possible sign of colitis, ulcers and colon cancer --doubled after Jon Huntsman: The Would Be Republican
Presidential Candidate Democrats Most
President Reagan underwent surgery in July for the removal of a Fear
polyp from his colon. 1,571 people shared this.

The 20 Best Since the first home test for pregnancy, Warner-Lambert's e.p.t., F acebook social plugin

and Worst appeared eight years ago, health kits have become easier to use
Cities for and more accurate. In 1977 e.p.t. provided an answer in two
Public More News from Our Partners
hours. A new version introduced this week, Improved e.p.t. Plus,
Transit
takes ten minutes. Even the trusty old thermometer has been
improved. Marshall Electronics' digital thermometer, which gives
Army Corps may open Morganza Spillway
an easier-to-read display, cost $39.95 when it was released in
Social Sec urity , Medicare squeeze gets worse
1979. Today's handier model is priced at just $9.95.
Memphis Grizzlies win is inspiring in flooded
Most doctors endorse home tests as monitoring tools but warn city
they should not be used without periodic office checkups. A report
by Research & Forecasts, an opinion-survey firm, on blood-
pressure monitors showed that 75% of doctors surveyed thought The Plan To Kill Osama Bin Laden
such units would aid in the fight against hypertension. Says John
Ballin, director of drugs and technology for the American Medical
Association: "The medical profession applauds these products as a It's Friday The 1 3th! 1 3 Weird
Superstitions
positive step in preventive medicine."

The success of a few products has inspired a host of others. Miles Tex as' 1 0 Hottest Female Sex
Offenders?
Laboratories sells a test for urinary-tract infections, Medical
Frontiers markets a product called V.D. Alert to test for gonorrhea,
and Thermascan expects to have a home check for breast diseases,
time.com/time/…/0,9171,1050639,00.html 1/2
5/14/2011 Private Practice: Home health-test sales s…
including cancer, ready by 1987. Creative Strategies predicts that
Ohio 7 th Graders Suspended For Passing Gas On
sales of self-care products will reach $1.8 billion by 1988, and
School Bus
Marketing Communications magazine has suggested that handy
Fake German Census Form A sks About Drug
medical devices could become as ubiquitous as wristwatches. Use, Sex
Cops: Teen Posts Girl's Nude Photo When She
Refused Sex
MORE

Weekly Ketchup: George Clooney as a

Household Pet?
Marv el Movie Madness! Part 3: The Incredible
Hulk
Critics Consensus: Priest is Without a Pray er

Top Stories on TIME.com Quotes of the Day »

Too Much Water: Army Corps
Will Deluge the Bayou to Save
the Big Easy
Starving the Rebellion: Syria's
Brutal Tactics
Foreclosures: Are Bank
Regulators Messing Up the
Housing Recovery?
"There's clearly a message here
that women are dispensable. I'm
sick and tired of being treated like a
second-class
citizen."
ANNIE KUETHER,
Kansa s
Cong resswom an, after state legislators
a pprov ed a ban on insurance com pa nies'
offering abortion cov era ge unless a w oma n's life
is at risk; it's the latest in a string of
a ntiabortion mea su res in th e state since
Gov ernor Sam Brow nba ck took office
More Quotes »

Stay Connected with TIME.com Learn More »

Re ad TIME Ge t TIME
Subscribe to Sign Up for Add TIME Mobile on Become a Fan Tw itter
RSS Feeds New sle tters Widge ts Your Phone of TIME Updates

© 2011 Time Inc. All rights reserved | Privacy Policy | RSS | Newsletter | TIME For Kids | LIFE.com
Subscribe | Contact Us | Terms of Use | Media Kit | Reprints & Perm issions | Opinion Leaders Panel | Help | Site Map

time.com/time/…/0,9171,1050639,00.html 2/2