'Flushable' pregnancy test gets FDA's approval; set for 2018 launch

New Delhi: Don't want anyone to discover your pregnancy test? Afraid someone will find it? Well, not if you can flush it away.

The US Food and Drug Administration has given its nod of approval to a Philadelphia start-up to sell its flushable pregnancy test on the market.

The product has been developed by a start-up called Lia and is the first and only FDA-approved flushable, biodegradable pregnancy test.

Made with a special paper that works long enough to take the test and but then degrades in water, the pregnancy test has no glass and requires no batteries.

However, it works just like the plastic pregnancy tests – the Lia tests will react to the pregnancy hormone found in urine, human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), displaying two lines to indicate pregnancy, one line if not.

The company says the product was 99% accurate in advance tests and is expected to hit the markets in mid-2018, the New York Daily reported.

Once available on Lia's website and Amazon, the test could cost anywhere between $9 and $22.