New
threats to fan female foeticide…
By
Maxwell Pereira
maxwelpereir@gmail.com
The
unholy spectre of Illegal sex selection to prevent or destroy
female offspring - at the pre-conception stage or the pre-natal,
just doesn't seem to stop haunting. Even as the country is battling
to remedy its skewed female to male sex ratio, newer onslaughts
are afoot through technology driven procedures available in cyber
space, which the warped Indian brain is quick to learn about and
adapt to its situation and ulterior aims. All in an effort to
circumvent existing laws prohibiting sex selection for purpose
of eliminating the very possibility of a girl child being born.
In
early July the Indian news media stumbled on to the increasing
practice among Indian parents to access through Internet facilities
available in the USA that guaranteed a male issue even at the
pre-conception stage. A process based on PGD - the preimplantation
genetic diagnosis, or the ICSI - Intra Cytoplasmic Sperm Injection
technique that could make sex determination of the child possible
at the conception level by taking one healthy sperm for fertilisation
of the egg with freedom to chose Y over X chromosome. New techniques
developed in America, which combined the spectacular advances
in molecular genetics and assisted reproductive technology (ART)
- to enable physicians to identify genetic diseases in the embryo,
prior to implantation, before the pregnancy is established.
But
PGD was developed for patients - especially those resorting to
intrauterine insemination or In Vitro Fertilization - who were
at risk of having children with serious genetic disorders, such
as haemophilia, which often discouraged them having their own
biological children. In genuine cases, PGD also offered parents
to balance their family with equal number of girl and boy children.
For
the Indian community in America though, this technique came handy
to perpetuate even while on alien soil their ancient prejudices.
The obsession for son preference against a background of patriarchal
social framework (to carry the family name forward, support in
old age and for performing last rites); the girl child invariably
relegated to secondary status being ultimately 'paraya dhan' leading
to economic considerations arising out of the tag on daughters
as a liability translating into the curse of dowry, etc. Prejudices,
under bizarre conditions that conspired to promote female foeticide!
They latched on to PGD as a godsend, to eventually tutor and educate
their kith and kin back home in India too.
Quick
on the uptake to realise its commercial potential, websites of
fly-by-nite operators sprung up in the US offering the facility
to Indian couples across the globe - and true to form with enough
gullible or eager Indians to bite the bait for dubious use at
the Indian end. Websites like www.meditest.com,
Tell Me Pink or Blue, GenSelect and www.babyzendormentor.com
which rural Punjabis quickly transformed to 'jantarmantar', and
so on - offering home pregnancy kits for a dollar price translating
to around Rs.15,000 or less. Facilities to pack a blood sample
to a lab in the US to know the baby's gender in a few days.
Protagonists
of sex selection attempt to justify the practice claiming gender
selection has been a quest of couples for as far back as recorded
history allows. That drawings from prehistoric times suggest our
earliest ancestors were investigating sex selection efforts. Of
evidence in later history too of intense interest in sex selection
by early Asian (Chinese), Egyptian and Greek cultures, followed
by documented scientific efforts beginning in the 1600's to sway
chances of achieving a pregnancy by a variety of methods. Finally,
about research and work carried out in the 1980's and 90's providing
possible methods for obtaining a desired pregnancy gender outcome
ranging from excellent to the virtually guaranteed.
But
such are criminally remiss though of ignoring the impact of the
declining sex ratio. That it reflects gross discrimination against
one sex within society, confirming that in India girls are less
wanted. That the practice demeans women by looking on daughters
as a burden because of the dowry to be paid for them and because
any investment in them - for their nutrition, education, health,
general well-being etc will not help the natal family's future
security.
The
increasing deficit of girls is also creating a social imbalance
within society, with pockets in India where very few girls are
born. Resulting in no brides for the burgeoning son population,
with the prospect of having to import girls from other regions.
Resulting in social problems of purchasing young girls from poor
regions, women treated as commodities, contributing to further
fall in their status in society. This can only lead to further
exploitation and abuse of women, violence against them, increased
trafficking and sex trade, and re-emergence of practices like
polyandry. Letting the cycle of discrimination and gender inequities
to continue, fuelled now by newer and more accurate technologies
for sex selection.
Alarmed
over this latest threat, the Union Health Ministry has addressed
the Ministry of Information Technology through the Home Ministry
to initiate measures to ban or block these websites. The exact
implications and the dimensions of the impact on Indian society
of this new menace need study. Especially when the battle is on
against the nation-wide plague of illegal sex selection through
the ultrasound facility - that throws up gory cases of the Patran
type with scores of aborted foetuses in doctors' backyard wells!
While
the new threats would need the attention of the expert medical
fraternity to suggest an appropriate course of action, the aspect
of effecting dollar payment over internet, or through relatives
abroad, would also need examination. There is need for the Ministries
of Science & Technology, of Communications and Information
Technology, of Finance and Revenue (Income Tax) to be sensitive
to the issue and be involved.
28.08.2006:
Copyright © Maxwell Pereira: 3725 Sector-23, Gurgaon-122017
Tel: 0124-5111025 /026 : website: http://www.
maxwellpereira.com; email: mfjpkamath@gmail.com
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