BATTLE AGAINST FEMALE FOETUS GOES ONLINE

Despite Centre's ban, gender test kits are sold online, delivering a huge blow to Gujarat which is already reeling from skewed sex ratio

Murder is a heinous crime. Yet, there are many in India who think nothing of the brutality of killing females even before they have the opportunity to be born.The selective abortion of female foetuses is rampant in India, resulting in a tragically skewed sex ratio of 914 girls to 1,000 boys in the country.

The situation is more morbid in Gujarat where the ratio is 883 girls to 1,000 boys. While the gov ernment has banned sex determination tests in the country, domestic e-commerce sites are selling an illegal home sex-test kit that promises to tell expecting moms whether they are carrying a boy or a girl as early as 10 weeks after conception. The kit is easily available online, spelling trou ble for states where the practice of killing females in the womb is both practical and socially acceptable.

Indiamart.com, which claims to be India's largest online business-tobusiness marketplace, advertises `IntelliGender Gender Prediction Test Kit' which assures identification of a foetus's gender through a urine test. Due to the ban in India, such ads for prenatal gender selection kits are neither harmless nor legal.

According to Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, any kind of advertisement relating to sex determination test is illegal and a punishable offence.Yet, the kit is also available on in.ebid.net, an online auction website, and http:www.indianindustry.com, another online marketplace.

EASY AVAILABILITY

The official website for IntelliGender Gender Prediction Test Kit states, “IntelliGender is designed for easy home use by curious expectant mothers. In minutes, the test indicates your gender result based upon an easy-to-read colour match. Green indicates boy and orange indicates girl!“ When this correspondent contacted Vijendrasingh Mansingh Rajput from Indiamart (Ahmedabad) as a customer, he said, “The product will be made available in the city.“

On further request, he provided the number of Sunil Gupta, who works in New Delhi at 3G Chemist, the shop that supplies the kit across the country.

Over the telephone, Gupta said, “We courier the kit across the country, even Gujarat. However, the customer needs to pay an advance amount of Rs 6,000 per kit. We offer a discount of Rs 500 on pre-payment so the kit costs Rs 5,500 including delivery charges. We deliver teh kits in batches. Our next delivery is slated for November 20.“

International websites like eBay, which do not sell the product in India, price the product at Rs 2,000. Asked about the steep priceing, Gupta said, “We import the product from the US, which adds to the cost.“

Interestingly, Gupta is quite aware that the product is deemed illegal in India. “We deliver the kit in a plain box. It does not mention details of the product on the outside. So it is safe and does not involve legal complications as no one is wiser. “ Sadly, 3G Chemist is not the only seller. Many dealers are advertising the kit on several e-commerce sites.In.ebid.net is selling the product for Rs 3080 (approx) which includes “international shipping From United States to India“. Website http:www.indianindustry.com also carries advertisements for the same product. Under PCPNDT Act, enacted by the Indian Parliament in 1994, any kind of sex determination test is banned. Section 2 of the Act states `any equipment capable of determining sex of the foetus or portable equipment which has the potential for detection of sex during pregnancy or selection of sex before conception' is prohibited in the country. Also, Section 3B states, “No person shall sell any ultrasound machine or imaging machine or scanner or any other equipment capable of detecting sex of a foetus to any genetic counselling centre, genetic laboratory, genetic clinic or any other person not regis tered under the Act.“

Despite this Act, any person in India who has access to the internet can log on to these portals and order the kit. This will be a setback to Gujarat's `Save the Girl Child' campaign,“ said a family welfare department official, adding, “Regular and repeated inspection of sonography centres has reduced sex determination practices in the state considerably.“

When Mirror informed about the online sale of these kits to the department's Assistant Director Rakesh R Vaidya, he said, “I will discuss the matter with higher authority.“

KIT'S EFFICACY

Can a woman, within weeks of her pregnancy, find out the sex of her child by pee ing into a cup? That is what makers of IntelliGender claim. But how accurate is it?

IntelliGender's latest report boasts of 78-80 per cent accuracy rate even as the firm refuses to divulge what hormones or chemicals it uses it in its test be cause of a pending patent. “Most parents have a great degree of curiosity to find out if they're having a boy or a girl, and it can be so excruciating to wait until the 20 week sonogram to find out,“ IntelliGender co-founder Rebecca Griffin says, follow ing it with the rider: “But the test was never meant to be a diagnostic tool. We don't claim 100 percent accuracy.“

In fact, the company's website specifically says to not “paint the room pink or blue“ until an expectant mom confirms results with her doctor. Unlike the West, gender testing isn't just about painting the nursery or picking the right colour for baby clothes, it's about aborting the unwanted foetus. Interestingly, while the test is available for sale in 11 countries, Griffin claims IntelliGender does not sell the test to India or China. Fertility experts are skeptical about IntelliGender's claim.

“Results for such tests are accurate as making a random guess. People should not waste their money on such kits,“ says city gynaecologist Sheetal Punjabi.