Final Report (all chapters)

Aware of the controversial nature of this technology, the institute currently offers its
services only for the purpose of “family balance.” This term identifies families that, after having
several children of one sex, desire to have a baby of the opposite sex. According to the institute,
the demand for sex-selection services is very strong and is by no means limited to families
seeking “balance.” This suggests that the market for this technology is much larger than the
demand for family balance indicates, though it is unclear just how large this market might be. It
is certainly large enough to make investors in the Genetics & IVF Institute very rich. For this
reason, it is very unlikely that the institute will continue offering its services exclusively for the
purpose of family balance once it receives FDA approval for this sex-selection technology. The
FDA, for its part, has no authority to limit the use of MicroSort if it has deemed the technology
both safe and effective.
Should anyone be concerned about the widespread use of sex-selection technologies such as
MicroSort? Providing a definitive answer to this question is surprisingly difficult. Some
commentators have pointed out that in countries where sex-selection technologies (of any kind)
have been available for some time, male and female birth ratios have experienced dramatic
distortions. In Korea, Taiwan, China, and India, for example, patriarchal values and perverse
economic incentives have produced strong familial preferences for boys; female infanticide has
often been the result. In more recent times, the increasing availability of medical technologies
such as ultrasound imaging and amniocentesis has produced an astounding number of selective
abortions, shifting birth ratios from a normal 102-103 boys to 100 girls to 120 boys for 100 girls
and higher. The consequences are predictable – pervasive scarcity of females and an associated
increase in social unrest and crime attributable to a growing population of young, unattached
males. 43
One may argue that Western industrialized countries are very unlikely to face this problem.
The empirical evidence in this regard is mixed. A handful of European surveys have consistently
shown that the sex of the first-born child is largely a matter of indifference. In Germany, only 14
percent of respondents have a clear preference for a boy, 10 percent for a girl, and 76 percent of
respondents claims to be indifferent. 44 Similar results were obtained in the United Kingdom,
where 12 percent of respondents would prefer a boy as their first-born child, and 19 percent a
girl, the rest being indifferent. 45 On the other end, a survey of 17 European countries found a
43
44
45
M. Ansari-Lari and M. Saadat, "Changing Sex Ratios in Iran 1976-2000," Journal of Epidemiology and
Community Health 56 (2002); Cecilia L. W. Chan et al., "Gender Selection in China: Its Meanings and
Implications," Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics 19, no. 9 (2002); Elizabeth Hervey Stephen,
"Demographic Implications of Reproductive Technologies," Population Research and Policy Review 19, no. 4
(2000).
E. Dahl et al., "Preconception Sex Selection for Non-Medical Reasons: A Representative Survey from
Germany," Human Reproduction 18, no. 10 (2003).
H. Statham et al., "Choice of Baby's Sex," Lancet 341, no. 8844 (1993).
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