Sex-selection reports trigger investigation of fertility clinics in Thailand

[webfact]

Sex-selection reports trigger investigation of fertility clinics
POUNGCHOMPOO PRASERT
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- AFTER news that Chinese people have been coming to Thailand for in vitro fertilisation (IVF) procedures that allow specific selection of a baby's sex, police are checking up on 12 "targeted" private clinics nationwide that reportedly provide illegal fertility services.

Pol Lt-Colonel Chatmongkol Wasin-amorn, deputy superintendent of the Consumer Protection Police Division, said police would arrest those involved on human-trafficking charges if the fertility technology has been developed and promoted in a way that could be prosecuted under that framework.

Online advertisements that carry faulty messages such as claiming that clinics in Thailand are legally entitled to carry out IVF procedure that allows sex selection will result in the punishment of both the website owner and the information provider.

Chatmongkol made his statement at a press conference on Tuesday that was jointly organised by the Public Health Ministry and the Medical Council of Thailand.

Strict controls

Department of Health Service Support chief Dr Boonreung Trireungwarawat affirmed that Thai law strictly controlled IVF and gestational surrogacy as well as prohibiting the selling of eggs and the sex selection of embryos.

Illegal clinics and practitioners face jail terms of up to three years and fines of Bt60,000, he warned.

"Currently, there are 45 fertility clinics that are approved by the department and the Royal Thai College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

"Seven or eight more clinics are applying for licences," he said.

He added that 300 gynaecologist clinics would be invited to a meeting about the legal requirements surrounding IVF, where they would be urged to be vigilant against law violators.

Medical Council of Thailand president |Dr Somsak Lohlekha said the council prohibited the sex selection of babies and payment to egg/sperm donors or surrogate mothers.

Surrogacy could only proceed if the egg and sperm came from a spouse or a blood relative.

Doctors found to have breached the council's regulations in this matter would be deemed guilty of seriously contravening medical ethics, which is punishable by revocation of a medical licence.

Somsak also said the council would make a proposal to the Food and Drug Administration to enact stricter control of sperm imports.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Sex-selection-reports-trigger-investigation-of-fer-30239405.html


-- The Nation 2014-07-25

[wilcopops]

As ever Thailand is the hub of un-ethical medicine

Edited July 25, 2014 by wilcopops

[chotthee]

"Medical Council of Thailand president |Dr Somsak Lohlekha said the council prohibited the sex selection of babies and payment to egg/sperm donors or surrogate mothers."

Why not? Answer please.

Why stop there. What's next? Nose job not allowed? Brest jobs not allowed? Sex change not allowed? .

Edited July 25, 2014 by chotthee

[FinChin67]

"Medical Council of Thailand president |Dr Somsak Lohlekha said the council prohibited the sex selection of babies and payment to egg/sperm donors or surrogate mothers."

Why not? Answer please.

Why stop there. What's next? Nose job not allowed? Brest jobs not allowed? Sex change not allowed? .

You do not follow news much about China and sex selection?

[IMA_FARANG]

i am not up on the latest technology. but i don't believe that it is possible to select sperm that will generate a male embreyo and not a female embreyo.

I may be wrong but I don't think there is any foolproof way to be certain about the sex of the resulting embreyo from the sperm.

Now what they could do is get a viable embreyo, check it's sex, and dispose of those that were the wrong sex.

But that won't mean the necessity of aborting a fertilized embreyo of the "wrong" sex ...... and that is unethical if not illegal for most doctors.

I imagine few doctors would consider such a possibility. much less do it.

That's why i personally thunk that most fertility clinics that advertise they can gaurentee the sex of an embreyo are simply scams.

But. like I say, i am not up on the latest technology, so it may be possible.

[thairastawoman]

Knowing Asian guys a lot I understand that many do not want to have a boy and only want a girl !

[tracker1]

stricter control of sperm imports. Geez I hope the poor little buggers don't go astray in the post !!!!!!

[rjcampbe]

As ever Thailand is the hub of un-ethical medicine

I know that in some countries there are serious issues with parents choosing boys over girls and aborting female pregnancies, not to mention female infanticide...

But explain to me why it is unethical for my wife and I to want to choose to have a girl since I already have two sons?

In my opinion, the ability and practice of being able to choose the gender is not, in itself, unethical. However, the REASONS why a person or couple might make that choice may be unethical.

This is an instance where ethical guidelines are needed, but not an outright ban.

[wordchild]

Sperm sorting is not very effective as a sex selection method, you may shift the odds from 50/50 to 60/40 but that's about it. PGD (genetic testing) of the embryo pre implantation is offered by many IVF clinics in Thailand as a way of checking for abnormalities, this can also be used to check the likely sex of the embryo and is generally highly accurate. Some , but not all, Thai clinics offer PGD for sex selection, at an extra charge, of course.