- From a plush new clinic tucked away on the seventh floor
of a drab Hong Kong office building, businessman Min Yoo says he can give
would-be-parents the child of their dreams.
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- Without the need for surgery or genetic manipulation
he claims to be able to give couples all they need to select the gender
of their child -- a simple calendar.
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- His technique has, however, been greeted with scepticism
by some in the medical fraternity who say there is no evidence to show
it works.
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- "There are good times for women to conceive if they
want a boy and good times for boys. We simply work out those times,"
said Min, of CHOIX clinic in downtown Hong Kong.
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- CHOIX says it uses a simple gender selection technique
that identifies the best times for a would-be mother to conceive a boy
and when she is likely to conceive a girl.
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- Min said it relies on being able to identify when a woman
will have the eggs -- or ova -- that will produce a child of the required
sex.
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- "Human biology works in cycles," said Min,
who has no medical training and whose only experience of such matters comes
from his mother who is a fertility specialist in Los Angeles.
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- "Using data we collect from the client, we work
out a fertility calendar for our clients that maps out when it would be
best for them to conceive a boy or a girl."
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- The cycle depends on physiological data particular to
each client that clinicians gather from a medical history questionnaire,
a consultation and a single blood sample.
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- "It takes about an hour or so to do, but from that
we can establish the best time of conception for any couple," adds
Min, a Korean-born American who helped found the company a year ago with
three other partners.
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- They bought the only Asian licence for the technique,
which was devised by a private laboratory in Switzerland. The lab is in
the process of patenting the procedure and may not be named.
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- A treatment package, including midwife visits and other
medical back-up, costs 50,000 Hong Kong dollars (6,410 US).
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- Although since opening late last month CHOIX has only
signed one client, Min expects would-be parents to be willing to pay that
much to get the baby they want.
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- "There are many constraints on family size in Hong
Kong -- not least, the generally small size of people's homes here,"
he said.
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- "Most people these days want at least two children,
one of each. If they already have one, they will want to ensure the next
one is of a different sex.
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- "This procedure takes away the risk of having to
have a third, fourth or fifth baby if they all turn out to be the same
sex as the first."
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- While CHOIX has the backing of a leading local midwife
and private hospital group, some in the medical fraternity have questioned
the legitimacy of the technique.
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- "We've had similar gender selection clinics come
and go; there's no scientific or medical evidence to show any of them
work,"
Dr. Ernest Ng, assistant professor at the obstetrics and gynaecology
department
of Queen Mary Hospital, attached to the Hong Kong University, told
AFP.
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- "You cannot select the gender of a child from the
cycles of the would-be mother alone -- sperm has as much a part to play,
adding to the unpredictability of it."
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- Min is resolute his business is valid.
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- "The point is," argues Min, "this is not
a medical procedure. It is pointless asking a medical practitioner because
there is no medicine involved.
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- "It is all about natural timing and identifying
the best time to conceive. It's akin to the rhythm method that has been
used for years to avoid conception."
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- The procedure has been put forward as a possible solution
to growing population problems in China, where the cultural premium placed
on sons has produced orphanages filled with baby girls and where the
punitive
one-child policy has produced high numbers of backroom abortions.
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- Although Ng questions the ethics of such a suggestion,
saying such gender selection is banned in some countries on the grounds
it could destabilise the male-female balance, Min questions it on
commercial
grounds.
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- "This is not an answer to China's population problem
but an aid for family planning," he said. "And anyway, I'm not
so sure those traditional views really hold in modern China -- except in
the backward rural areas."
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- Min is confident the technique will sell among Asia's
middle classes because there are no medical risks nor religious objections
to a procedure that requires no manipulation of human embryos.
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- In fact he is so confident the company offers a full
money-back guarantee if a client conceives a child of the wrong sex.
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- "We can't guarantee you will get pregnant, but we
are pretty certain that when you do, we'll know what the sex (of the baby)
will be."
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