Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City have developed a new IVF technique that allows parents to choose the sex of their baby. According to the researchers, it is “extremely safe, efficient, cheap and ethically palatable”, in addition to the results showing an effectiveness of 80%.
The issue of sex selection, however, still raises serious ethical concerns, and the selection of embryos based on sex, without extenuating reasons such as sex-linked diseases, is illegal in many countries.
The study was based on the fact of sperm density. For example, the X chromosome (generating female offspring) is slightly heavier than the Y chromosome (generating male offspring).
“While ethically debatable, expressing a sexual preference for offspring is popular with couples and is not limited to those undergoing infertility treatment. Sperm sex enrichment allows selection of embryos for the desired sex. Our sex selection method does not increase the proportion of additional aneuploid embryos,” say the researchers.
The test was conducted with 1,317 couples divided into two groups, with 105 men in the study group where the new technique was used. 59 couples in this group wanted female children and the technique resulted in 79.1% (231/292) female embryos. Resulting in the birth of 16 girls without any abnormalities.
Forty-six couples who wanted sons ended up with 79.6% male embryos (223/280), resulting in the birth of 13 healthy boys.
In the United States, couples seeking an IVF pregnancy usually go through the preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGT) process.
