Home test shows sex of fetus at five weeks of pregnancy
BMJ 2005; 331 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.331.7508.69-c (Published 07 July 2005) Cite this as: BMJ 2005;331:69All rapid responses
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Another breakthrough in fetal sex determination is scary given the
practice of elimination of girl child in the Asian countries like India,
China and Korea. This practice has reached alarming proportions to give
rise to highly skewed masculine sex ratios among children and
apprehensions about its implication on the institution of marriage and
status of women in general. The juvenile sex ratios reported in Indian
Census (2001) has drawn attention world-wide to engage in contesting this
social evil of girl child elimination in general and reemphasizing the
need for gender equity. At this juncture, a technology of fetal sex-
determination at only five weeks of pregnancy may remain restricted to the
world where parents welcome child of either sex with same enthusiasm and
it is meant for their preparedness of parenthood. But for all reasons of
sanity, this technology need not by any chance be transferred to these
regions which are already struggling against unscrupulous use of medical
technology to serve the biased desire of parenthood of male children only.
Competing interests:
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Competing interests: No competing interests
For years, I have looked forward to reading BMJ and now, with
electronic mail, i enjoy reading online updates. I am surprised that a
publication of this repute has accepted to publish an article of this
nature. Maternal and fetal blood are indeed seperate! I would think it is
next to impossible (at least as of now) to determine the sex of the fetus
at 5 weeks with the help of the mothers peripheral blood.
By publishing such articles in reputed journals, we, as part of
medical profession are only ratifying it. I dread to think of the
consequences should such an article reach the lay press in India and they
decide to publish it. The consequences would be disastrous, especially in
a developing country like ours where we are still grappling with female
feticide. Suffice to say that in the event this happens, the company that
makes this claim would be the only beneficiary.
I would earnestly request BMJ to scrutinise what they publish and
restrain themselves to publishing properly researched and better reviewed
articles.
Competing interests:
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Competing interests: No competing interests
My initial response is to treat the claims for this test with great
suspicion. The accuracy of the test seems unlikely, even if it is
possible to determine the sex of a fetus from a finger prick sample of
blood. I always understood that the maternal and fetal circulations were
separate.
This has the potential for being a money maker for those selling the
test, since they have a 50:50 chance of giving the correct result. If
they only have to return half the fees taken they will be doing well. No
doubt a lot of those given the wrong answer will have forgotten they can
cliam their money back, or not wish to go to the trouble of doing so.
I am surprised at the BMJ publishing the artice without apparently
checking the validity of the claim. It also seems irresponsible to
publish a link to the website of the providers of this test, before being
sure that this is not a scam. Have I missed something or misunderstood the
article?
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
Dear Sir,
We read with interest the news published in your reputed journal.
If we look at the news without any cynisicm then its an excellent test and
raises hopes of all medical community including us that in future after
further developments these tests can be used not only to know the sex of
the baby but also for ruling out other genetic abnormalities which will
not only be detected at very early stages but also save the patients from
invasive tests like the Chorionic Villus sampling and Amniocentesis.
We are sure that people will be genuinely concerned about the misuse
of the test leading to female foeticide. Although the test has been
introduced only in the US but we doubt that with increasing globlisation
it will be used or misused only in US and not in other countries specially
where there is an already alarming decline of the sex ratio.
Along with that we should not forget that with 15-20% recognised
pregnancies ending in a miscarriage(most of them in the first trimester)
the psychological impact of knowing the sex of miscarried pregnancy might
add upon the grief of a poor soul.
Competing interests:
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Competing interests: No competing interests
The preference for male child in INDIA and other countries is well
known. If the test is available at 5 weeks of pregnancy it will lead to
increasing death of female fetus.
In India already falling sex ratio of female child is a matter of concern
even among affluent people, availability of the test would cause further
deterioration of sex ratio.
Already the bane of sex determination by Govt of India for many years
though notified as illegal has not been successful due to practice by our
professional colleagues and public desire for male child due to social
reasons.
THE US GOVT is reqested to stop this test as once available it will be
smuggled to other countries too. Let advances in medicine not be used
against nature and fetecide ,they shold be for benefit of human race. The
past has alredy witnessed adverse effects of advances for destuction in
wars,let there not be addition for destruction of females on earth
Competing interests:
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Competing interests: No competing interests
Richard Maybury, who writes a newsletter to which I subscribe, makes
the observation that because of the one child per family policy of the
Chinese government over the past several decades along with male gender
favoritism the current ratio of males to females in the 18-20 year old age
group is 120:100. He calculates that this leads to approximately
23,000,000 Chinese males who will never find a mate. One consequence of
this is that the natural brake to the violence and aggression associated
with "testosterone poisoning" which females in a family setting provide
will be permanently unavailable to 23 million males (a number probably
larger than all the armies of the world combined).
What will the Chinese government do to cope with this probably
unintended consequence of population control? War is certainly one way to
export this kind of potential violence away from the homeland. Even if
this path is not chosen I fear that Chinese society will suffer some
devastating effects from their government's family planning policy.
Competing interests:
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Competing interests: No competing interests
In my opinion, part of the 'joy of expectancy' for would-be-parents
includes the moments spent in deliberating whether the child would be a
girl or a boy. The eager await for the results of 'Boy' or 'Girl' at the
end of the 36 weeks is what nature has designed for the human race.
Medical intervention for the pure purpose of knowing the sex of the child
has little benefit, if any. Arguments put forth that it helps choosing a
name or decorating the baby's room accordingly are not at all adequate
reasons to reveal the sex of the baby. Yes, genetic testing to detect
congenital disorders is required and has contributed much to man's
progress in the medical field.
Besides this, the easy availability of such tests will increase the
problem of 'Female foeticide', which is a very serious problem in our
country, India. The love for a 'Male child' continues in many parts of the
country. So much so, that revealing the sex of the child after sonography
is prohibited by law in India. I only hope such irrational parents do not
get to hear of the availability of the 'Home-use Sex determination kits'.
It will certainly deny many females foetuses the chance to see the light
of the day. The manufacturers are earnestly requested not to make these
kits available to India.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests
50:50 chance of being right!
I agree with Guy Nash that this "news" article should have been
thoroughly checked before publication and at least should have been
published together with an editorial on the risks of commercially
available fetal sex testing kits.
I remember being told a story as a student. There was an obstetrician
who told his patients the sex of their expectant baby having determined
the sex by palpation! Whatever sex he predicted he always wrote down in
his diary the opposite sex against the patients name. If he was right the
patient was impressed. If was wrong, and the patient protested he simply
opened his diary and showed the correct result against the patients name.
I do not expect the story is true but it does illustrate the danger of
commercial exploitation of people who wish to know the sex of their unborn
baby.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests