New Gender Blood Test
It has been reported on News.com.au that Dutch researchers have developed the first non-invasive blood test to determine gender and specific genetic abnormalities as early as five weeks after conception.
Apparently this simple blood test of the mother’s plasma means gender can be accurately determined very shortly after conception. This makes a massive improvement on what is currently available in regards to genetic testing, with a CVS being carried out at around 11 weeks and an Amniocentesis at around 16 weeks.
This is a major development and one which scientists have been chasing for sometime as it is 100% safe for both the mother and her unborn baby as it works on extracting the DNA of the foetus from the mothers’ blood. Certain gene sequences will determine gender and genetic abnormalities.
The test will mostly be carried out at seven weeks gestation.
However some Australian Obstetricians argue that it will not be available in Australia due to ‘ethical and moral’ issues.
My opinion is that whilst Australia is very conservative when it comes to such issues, the idea that certain genetic abnormalities can be discovered at such an early gestation with no risk of miscarriage could mean many healthy babies will not die as a result of a more invasive test being carried out at a later gestation.
I feel this is a breakthrough and depending on what genetic abnormalities could be picked up with this test I view it as a positive finding. I do also understand the fear that this test could be abused by those wishing to abort a healthy baby due to it being the ‘wrong’ gender, but I also know that this could be very easily regulated if the right procedures are put in place.
After all personally I have been faced with the option of having further invasive testing during one of my pregnancies (as has Maree) and I know I would have welcomed the option to have an early blood test opposed to possibly risking my baby’s life. Also for those, who for their own reasons would opt to abort if the result of further genetic testing was not as they would have hoped, it allows this to be done much earlier and therefore hopefully reduce the pain of waiting longer to get the same answer.
I think that if you are in a higher risk category based on previous pregnancy results that this test should be offered to you, but I do not feel it should be offered to everyone and especially those doing it just to find out the gender of their baby, as this is where it could cause problems especially for those who would consider abortion based on gender.
I am sure the amount of couples who would really abort based on gender would be quite slim in Western Countries, but I do feel that this could pose a real problem in those countries where boys are more highly regarded, so whilst it is a great discovery it needs to be monitored carefully to ensure the technology is used wisely.
What do you think? Please let us know by leaving your comments…
8 Responses to “New Gender Blood Test”
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