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NEW DELHI, INDIA, May 31, 2003: Cutting edge technology meant to detect genetic abnormalities before conception is now being used for the ethically questionable practice of selecting the sex of a child, usually a son. Invitro fertilization (IVF) clinics are now offering would-be parents the means to have a son, and this could have a lasting impact on the increasingly skewed sex ratio in India. A leading infertility expert, Dr Aniruddha Malpani, who has assisted in the birth of over 1,000 IVF babies over the last 11 years, says parents have the right to choose the sex of the child even though it is an offense. “There is technology now available which makes this possible, but the government doesn’t allow this and I think it is unfair,” says Dr Malpani. IVF clinics have a wide range of techniques to preselect gender even before conception. The sperm selection method chooses sperms containing the Y or male chromosome. The pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) method identifies male embryos after fertilization. Each attempt costs as much as US$2,100, but that does not deter couples desperate to have a child. “The reason IVF clinics flourish is on the tacit promise of providing male children. It’s a huge business particularly in a country where you have an obvious gender bias which modern technology is helping to continue or even propagate,” says Dr Vani Subhramanian Saheli. The PNDT act do not include these new reproductive techniques. “Doctors fly in from other cities and do a couple of cases and do not conduct a follow-up of the embryos. It is a total racket,” says Dr. Anoop Gupta.