ETHI: gender testing

[Hans Goerl <GENETHICS@delphi.com>]

A non-geneticist physician recently advised me that the "error rate" for
genetic "SRY" gender testing is around 1%. It was not clear whether that
rate was due to technical difficulties with the test or inherent ambiguities
in its interpretation.

In an event such as the Olympics, where 5,000 women may be tested, it would
seem to me that in the absence of rigorous re-testing and a sensible policy
regarding ambiguities a substantial number of women could be told
erroneously that they are of not of the gender they thought they were.

I would like to hear from anybody familiar with the test or the IOC testing
procedures who could let us know the accuracy of the test, the source (if
known) of the error rate and what the IOC procedure is.

Hans Goerl