A revolutionary new test launched in the United States this month can tell the sex of an embryo just five weeks after conception. The company behind the test, known as the Baby Gender Mentor, says that it will help couples to decide whether to paint the spare bedroom pink or blue.

The $275 (£158) test promises 99.9 per cent accuracy in less than 48 hours. If a Y chromosome is found in the mother's blood, the child she is carrying is a boy.

But with the test comes it's fair share of controversy. Could it bring back eugenics?

But anti-abortion groups fear that the test, in which a single drop of the mother's blood is tested for traces of her baby's DNA, could lead to an increase in abortions by making it easier for parents to end a pregnancy if they want a child of a different sex.

Sex selection is a growing problem in parts of Asia, where a preference for sons is skewing population ratios and leading to Chinese parents killing baby daughters.

Erin

SUICIDEGIRL

USA

JUL 12, 2005 07:01 AM

Sex selection is a growing problem in parts of Asia, where a preference for sons is skewing population ratios and leading to Chinese parents killing baby daughters.

Well, maybe if they just go with it in China there will be fewer full term baby girls dead in the gutter.

witchhunter

Jackson, TN

February 2003

JUL 12, 2005 08:27 AM

People need to give eugenics a second shot. Just because a rather extreme version of it was used during a painfull point in history it has been tarred with the same brush as racism. Eugenics could be very beneficial to humanity though.

DullLifelessHair

United Kingdom

November 2004

JUL 12, 2005 08:30 AM

If parents are willing to abort a child because of it's gender, perhaps that is better than allowing the child to be born and parented to them. Surely it's the desire to abort, rather than the means to do it, that is always the problem?

LyloniJade

Madison, WI

May 2004

JUL 12, 2005 08:42 AM

Erin said:

Sex selection is a growing problem in parts of Asia, where a preference for sons is skewing population ratios and leading to Chinese parents killing baby daughters.

Well, maybe if they just go with it in China there will be fewer full term baby girls dead in the gutter.

A bit dreary for this time of the morning, but you do have a point.

[Edited on Jul 12, 2005 11:42AM]

Sirtoddo

Seattle, WA

January 2005

JUL 12, 2005 09:49 AM

I am credulous.

I wonder if these claims are bonafide : It is hard for me to apply my (albeit limited) knowledge of medicine to picture baby DNA crossing the placenta. Maybe it happens, maybe it doesn't. Maybe this is agitpop propaganda.

I think people are ignorant enough about modern Chinese culture in the U.S. not to know that the chinese kids all go to schools much like American kids used to, where childhood development is very important,. The chinese do the best work on this stuff. They take great care of their kids. They don't just send them to gulags like we do (one-child policy.)

I don't find the claims that the Chinese are using sex seldtive tehniques to increase the number of boys completely implausible, but infanticide? I somehow doubt it.

You can think what you want, but I don't believe everything the government prints as news these days.

daniofthedead

Philadelphia, PA

June 2004

JUL 12, 2005 10:08 AM

Erin said:

Sex selection is a growing problem in parts of Asia, where a preference for sons is skewing population ratios and leading to Chinese parents killing baby daughters.

Well, maybe if they just go with it in China there will be fewer full term baby girls dead in the gutter.

i agree.

dem_z

United Kingdom

June 2004

JUL 12, 2005 12:32 PM

Sirtoddo said:
I don't find the claims that the Chinese are using sex seldtive tehniques to increase the number of boys completely implausible, but infanticide? I somehow doubt it.

Perks for baby girls

About 117 boys are born for every 100 girls, according to official figures.

Many reasons have been given for the traditional male bias, including under-reporting of female births, adoption and selective abortion or infanticide.

BBC report

Every year, say researchers, perhaps a million girl foetuses are aborted and tens of thousands of girl babies are abandoned.

AP report in Taipei Times

Chinese officials tried to force a mother who was visiting from Hong Kong to abort her six-month-old fetus under China's one-child policy, but Hong Kong's government intervened to save the unborn baby, a newspaper reported yesterday.

[Edited on Jul 12, 2005 8:33PM]

dem_z

United Kingdom

June 2004

JUL 12, 2005 12:34 PM

witchhunter said:
Eugenics could be very beneficial to humanity though.

Because cripples and spastics have nothing to offer us?

FrankMask

Saint Paul, MN

June 2003

JUL 12, 2005 01:31 PM

dem_z said:

witchhunter said:
Eugenics could be very beneficial to humanity though.

Because cripples and spastics have nothing to offer us?

Because it might be possible to make it so that no human being ever has to deal with a history of cancer, seizures, palsy, downs, or whatever else ever again.

No offense to Mr. Hawking, but if we have to ability to prevent a child from suffering a genetic disease then there is an obligation to prevent the disease. At this point it's not about sterilizing or killing anyone, it's about editing someone's DNA. I understand why a lot of people are scared by the implications of that, but at the same time, no more Downs. No more hereditary heart diseases or cancers.

BOARDS:

TOPICS:

I'm lost

June 2005

JUL 12, 2005 01:00 AM

SUICIDEGIRL

USA

JUL 12, 2005 07:01 AM

Jackson, TN

February 2003

JUL 12, 2005 08:27 AM

United Kingdom

November 2004

JUL 12, 2005 08:30 AM

Madison, WI

May 2004

JUL 12, 2005 08:42 AM

Seattle, WA

January 2005

JUL 12, 2005 09:49 AM

daniofthedead

Philadelphia, PA

June 2004

JUL 12, 2005 10:08 AM

United Kingdom

June 2004

JUL 12, 2005 12:32 PM

United Kingdom

June 2004

JUL 12, 2005 12:34 PM

Saint Paul, MN

June 2003

JUL 12, 2005 01:31 PM