[cia_tradecraft] China Scientist Planning to Move Forward With Sex-Selection Research

[skews_me]

http://www.lifenews.com/bio1395.html


China Scientist Planning to Move Forward With Sex-Selection Research  

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
March 20, 2006


Beijing, China (LifeNews.com) -- A Chinese scientist says he's 
planning to move ahead with research that would allow parents to be 
able to choose the sex of their baby before conception takes place. 
In a nation where sex-selection abortions have produced a horrendous 
gender imbalance, observers are concerned this will exacerbate the 
problem. 
Lu Kehuan, president of Guangxi Animal Breeding Research Institute, 
promises the research "would only be used for treating genetic 
diseases."

Lu told the Xinhua news agency that his company has conducted a 
similar gender selection test on a buffalo and it proved successful. 

"[I]t won't be too difficult to do the human research," Lu explained.

"I want to do gender selection on humans in the second half of this 
year. The techniques have been used in other countries and not much 
negative impact has been reported," Lu told Xinhua.

Because of the gender imbalance problems with sex-selection 
abortions, they have been banned in China. In addition, health 
workers who reveal the sex of an unborn child to parents without a 
legitimate medical reason for doing so risk jail.

However, the ban does not apply to gender selection for medical 
purposes.

Lu's company produced the birth of two cloned buffalo in February, 
who were hailed as the first cloned buffalo born through genetic 
gender selection.

Scientists sorted the X and Y chromosomes in the sperm of the male 
buffalo and removed the X chromosomes making it so the female buffalo 
would have only female offspring. 

Yang Jinbo, research fellow with Guangxi Buffalo Research Institute, 
told Xinhua that the same concepts apply with human sperm.

However, Gao Chongming, professor of Life Sciences Department of 
Beijing University, said he was concerned by the idea.

"If we change nature too far from what it should be, nature will 
retaliate," he said.

Wang Yanguang, research fellow with the Chinese Academy of Social 
Sciences, also worried about the research and told Xinhua, "We do not 
yet know the harmful effects of this."

Others are concerned that China's male-female ratio is already out of 
balance and, in a culture that prefers male babies, parents could use 
the technology to have only sons and those decisions would lead to 
further problems.

Lu says it would be 10 years before such research is widely used.








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