Ethics committee approval is required to perform PGD for other reasons (e.g. “siblings rescuers”). PGD cannot be used for sex selection in New Zealand. The Assisted Human Reproduction Technologies Act 2004 states that “it is illegal for reproductive purposes to select an in vitro embryo on the basis of sex or to perform a procedure or to provide, prescribe or administer anything in order to increase the likelihood that a human embryo will have a particular sex”. For centuries, there has been no objection to couples trying to influence the gender of their child in many ways. This is an interesting philosophical point when a particular community might decide to prohibit sex selection on the continuum of chance with 100% certainty. The fundamental ethical question of wanting to change gender has not changed. Only our ability to do it accurately has done it. In New Zealand, the penalty for breaking the law is imprisonment for up to one year or a fine of up to $100,000, or both. The law is carefully worded as “no one can” and not as “no doctor or clinic,” so one might suspect that even the transmission of information in the form of a book could put someone at risk. What is Professor Chapman`s advice for couples who want to try these sex selection techniques at home? In 1980, a research study was published to test this theory to determine the sex of babies in humans.
It was thought that through diet, the mineral (or “ionic”) imbalance in a woman`s body could facilitate sex selection. The ionic balance is thought to affect the chemical composition of their ovoid and/or vaginal secretions. Views and ethical standards vary from community to community, so it`s probably not surprising that this ban on sex selection isn`t universal. Although the UK and most other countries in Europe prohibit sex selection, it is an acceptable use of technology in countries such as the US, Russia, Thailand and a number of other Asian countries. Israel allows the use of sex selection for family balance when couples already have a certain number of children of a certain sex and want another child of a different sex. Clearly, there is no universal ethical response to the problem, and New Zealand has resorted to a legal response. But the lead researcher of the Australian study, Dr Kristina Edvardsson said laws have a limited impact on sex selection and a conversation needs to take place to show the value of all genders. One Dr. Ercisson described a technique for separating X- and Y-carrying sperm by centrifuging sperm through different gradients to enrich the concentrations of each. A number of clinics sprang up around the world, taking advantage of his initial claims to success until a number of other authors did not confirm his findings. It is quite clear that this technique only slightly alters the gender balance. One woman who read this article further interpreted that the pregnancies that appeared to occur after ovulation were girls, and so developed another internet group called “O+12” (ovulation plus 12 hours).
Again, there is no statistical significance in this information, and the original article and the perceived result have become another myth about sex selection. Under laws introduced in 2004, sex selection is prohibited in New Zealand unless it is part of the treatment of a genetic disease. The council, a ministerial advisory committee, on Thursday handed the government an important report indicating that individuals are best placed to make decisions on sex selection. Whether this is an evolutionary adaptation or directly related to the underlying diet is currently not obvious. As knowledge about the effect of diet in the period around conception increases, some rational scientific data may become available that will alter the gender balance. Older mothers and fathers who use IVF have been shown to produce more girls than boys. There is currently no explanation for this. In Holland, other girls were born in the 1980s to men working with pesticides. Anaesthesiologists of both sexes seemed to have more daughters. There is certainly still much to learn about the cause of these changes. The arguments for and against sex selection have polarized as our ability to achieve the goal has improved.
