The grey area of “fertility tech” being mis-sold as contraception

When Chelsea Polis questioned the evidence behind a fertility tracking thermometer, she soon found herself a defendant in a lawsuit.

In 2020 Polis, an epidemiologist, was sued for publicly sharing her scientific and regulatory concerns about the marketing of Daysy, a fertility device marketed as a contraceptive.1 The case was eventually dismissed, a flawed paper was retracted from the scientific literature, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) forced the manufacturer of Daysy, Valley Electronics, to change its marketing language.

Polis now advocates for laws to protect free speech for scientists and others. In November 2023 she was awarded the Maddox prize early career award for “her courage in challenging false marketing claims made by medical device manufacturers, and for her analysis of the flawed research used to market a fertility tracking thermometer as a contraceptive, which she communicated effectively in the face of lawsuits and threats.”