What is a Gender Prediction Test?

Blood test to measure gender is a way to detect the sex of a fetus by only testing human blood. However, experts said that "blood test sex" may not be accurate, and privately identifying sex is illegal. ^[1]

Blood test sex

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Blood test to measure gender is a way to detect the sex of a fetus by only testing human blood. But experts say that "blood test sex" may not be accurate, and privately identifying gender

As long as you are at least 7 weeks pregnant, taking a venous blood test will tell if your baby is male or female? Changzhou's "two children alone" policy has been implemented because of the concept of "double children". Compared with the first child, some families value the sex of the second child more. As a result, some pregnant women in Changzhou were introduced to Hong Kong for high-priced blood tests to test their gender, and some even took blood directly to Hong Kong for testing.

Zhao Xin (pseudonym), female, was pregnant once two years ago. At 7 and a half weeks, he went to Hong Kong through an intermediary and used in-depth blood testing technology to detect that the child's gender was the same as that of the first child. After returning to Changzhou, the drug flowed.

At present, Zhao Xin is pregnant with another baby. Due to the arrangement of working hours, she cannot go to Hong Kong for a blood test. This time, she took a more convenient approach: blood was sent to Hong Kong for testing.

Zhao Xin told reporters that the cost of this inspection ranged from 3,000 yuan to 6,000 yuan. In addition to the inspection fee, the transportation and accommodation costs more than 3,000 yuan.

"Hong Kong has strict controls on the entry of pregnant women. Some mothers enter Hong Kong thousands of miles in order to know the gender of their children. Some people may have miscarriage if they can't afford it. So it is much more convenient to send blood samples to Hong Kong for examination through an intermediary." Speaking of blood tests Testing men and women, Zhao Xin is like a few treasures, gushed endlessly.

She told reporters that her first child was a daughter, and she had been looking forward to "children and children", so she had high requirements for the sex of the second child. If she is still a daughter, she still does not intend to. ^[1]

Yesterday, the reporter contacted a "Hong Kong medical company" through Zhao Xin's introduction. The company claims on its own website that it can perform "fetal sex determination."

The company's business phone display is a Shenzhen number. The company explained that the vast majority of the industry is "headquartered in Hong Kong", but all have offices in Shenzhen. The company claims to be an official Hong Kong registered company established in 2009. Its branch is located in Luohu District, Shenzhen, and its special service items include "fetal sex identification".

"We are specialized in this, and the equipment and technology are mature." The staff who answered the phone said. Later, he asked the pregnant woman about the specific pregnancy time. If it reaches 7 weeks, the test can be performed. The price is 4,500 yuan, and the price is 4,000 yuan.

The male salesperson said that if customers have a Hong Kong and Macau Pass, they can take pregnant women directly to Hong Kong for blood tests. If there is no passport, customers can go to Shenzhen and the company will arrange blood draw. If you cannot arrange a trip to Shenzhen, you can purchase the company's blood sample storage container, save the blood sample and send it to Shenzhen, and the staff will take it to the Hong Kong Laboratory.

He said that after the blood samples were collected, they would be sent to Hong Kong for inspection, and the results would be notified to the customer within a minimum of one day, and the inspection report would be returned. When the reporter expressed "worries" about the accuracy and legality of the test, he immediately explained that the accuracy rate could reach 99.6%. "Pregnant women can leave after drawing blood. Anyway, the blood is sent to Hong Kong for testing. Don't worry." ^1]

If you take a tube of blood from a pregnant woman, you can know the sex of the fetus. Is it reliable? The reporter consulted Huang Ruiping, an expert of the City Maternal and Child Health Hospital.

Director Huang introduced to reporters the scientific process of DNA blood test to measure fetal sex. First, after the blood sample of the pregnant woman is drawn, it is subjected to two high-speed centrifugation treatments, and the supernatant is transferred into a new sterile tube and stored frozen for future use. The reagents were then used to extract the DNA from the supernatant, stain it, and observe under UV light. If you see a blue band, it means a boy, if you do nt, it means a girl, and as the fetus continues to grow, the DNA concentration will continue to increase and reach a peak at 8 weeks after conception.

So, what is the connection between these DNA fragments and the sex of the fetus? It turns out that women have XX chromosomes and men have XY. A long time ago, researchers found that a gene called "SRY" exists only on the Y chromosome. Once its presence is detected, it means that the fetus is male, so the fetal DNA in the mother's blood was isolated. Whether you can find the SRY gene, the gender question is naturally solved. This test can be performed 8 weeks after conception, and the accuracy rate can reach 98%.

However, there may be errors in blood test for gender. First of all, the mother must be at least 8 weeks of gestational age or the germ diameter is 16.3mm. Second, the pregnant woman has not delivered a male fetus within one year. Third, there is no major surgery, blood transfusion, organ transplantation, or abortion. Because the above conditions will affect the accuracy of the blood test. However, these reminders were never notified by the intermediary. Even Zhao Xin, who has been tested twice, has never heard of this precaution. ^[1]

The reporter found that the "separate second child" policy has not yet been fully liberalized. Many major hospitals already have pregnant women with second children who are particularly concerned about the child's gender during the childbirth. What's more, they talk directly with the intermediary, and even go to Hong Kong for a blood test to determine the sex of the fetus.

The reporter said that she was two months pregnant and joined the group's online chat group. A netizen named "ViVi Erbao Ma" complained that her relatives had gone to Hong Kong to do it. After the test, she said that it was a man, but she was born a woman.

In this regard, experts explained that it is likely that the blood sample was mistaken during the transportation process. In addition, many fetuses with developmental abnormalities who pass the DNA sex test and simply look at the Y chromosome are not accurate. ^[1]

China's "Population and Family Planning Law" clearly stipulates that the use of ultrasound technology, chromosome detection and other technical means for non-medical needs of fetal gender identification; non-medical needs to choose a gender to terminate pregnancy manually.

In this regard, people in the legal profession said that the qualifications of the intermediary agency are unknown, whether the inspection is submitted, the conclusion of the appraisal is false, etc. It is impossible to know for sure, there is a large risk, and it is difficult to safeguard rights in the event of an accident. At the same time, whether the laboratory has the qualifications, the authenticity of the test report, and the accuracy of the test results are unsupervised and the process is not transparent. In the end, it is still the pregnant woman's family. ^[1]

Urine test strips can test men and women? There was a test paper called "Boy or Girl Baby Gender Prediction Test" on the Internet, also known as "Baby Gender Prediction Test Paper", which is said to test the sex of a fetus in 1 minute. As long as the pregnancy is more than 6 weeks, if the test result is blue, the baby in the belly is a boy and pink is a girl.

Expert comment: This seemingly simple test strip for predicting baby gender is not scientific and has no basis. Usually, on the 7th day after a woman becomes pregnant, a specific hormone, human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG), can be detected in the urine. Early pregnancy test strips have the advantages of fast, convenient, sensitive and high specificity. But there is no scientific basis for detecting gender through urine. The difference between the hormones secreted by the male and female fetuses in the mother's body is extremely small. In addition, the interference of the mother's own hormones, it is simply impossible to distinguish the sex of the fetus only by the difference in the level of hormones in the urine.

The gestational sac is long, giving birth to a boy? It is circulated in the folk. You can see the sex of the fetus by looking at the B-ultrasound at 40-50 days of pregnancy. The shape of the sac is oval or round. , The long bar is a baby boy.

Expert comment: The shape and size of the pregnancy sac are determined by various factors such as the time of pregnancy, nutrition, implantation position, and uterine cavity size. The uterine cavity of each person is different, and the shape of the gestational sac naturally varies with the shape of the uterine cavity, and it is also related to the condition of the pregnant woman during the examination. The shape also looks flatter. In addition, some pregnant women have their sperm and eggs implanted properly when they are pregnant, and some of them are biased, resulting in different sac shapes. ^[1]

A few days ago, the Ruian People's Procuratorate arrested a case involving illegal medical practice using Hong Kong medical institutions to detect the blood of pregnant women and illegally identify the sex of the fetus.

It is reported that this case is the first case in Zhejiang Province. The suspect used the parents' eagerness to know the psychology of the fetus, collected thousands of yuan for the expectant family, collected 10 ml of venous blood and refrigerated air transported to Shenzhen, and transported to Hong Kong to obtain the fetal gender test results of the Hong Kong medical structure. The suspects are all engaged in the "blood test" gray industry chain.

According to the Criminal Law, those who commit the crime of illegal medical practice shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not more than three years, detention or control, and shall be imposed a single fine; if the physical health of the patient is severely impaired, they shall be sentenced to fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years and not more than 10 years, and be fined; The person who died of the consultation was sentenced to more than ten years in prison and fined.

On April 17, the suspect was arrested and his wife and classmates were released on bail pending trial for participating in intermediary services. ^[1]