Researchers used a technique to separate sperm on whether they had an X chromosome (making female offspring) or a Y one (male offspring). Sperm with an X chromosome are slightly heavier than those with a Y, the research indicates.
However, the study has again raised long-held concerns over the ethics of such a process. Selecting embryos without reasons such as a sex-linked disease is illegal in many countries.
Experts behind the research, from Weill Cornell Medicine in New York, said their technique was inexpensive and "extremely safe".
Fifty-nine couples wanted a girl and it resulted in 79.1% (231 out of 292) female embryos, with 16 girls being born without any abnormalities. Fifty-six couples wanted a boy and the technique produced 79.6% male embryos (223 out of 280), resulting in 13 healthy male babies.
[...] "I am convinced that the science is sound and that, instead of the usual 50:50 'coin toss' then a couple can get a baby with the desired sex a little under 80% of the time."
From the article:
The desire to have offspring of a specific sex has a long history but has been particularly present since the 1970s with the early appearance of assisted reproduction. The reasons for choosing a child's sex may be social, such as a desire for family balancing [1]. Couples undergoing IVF, who already have a child or children of one sex, may wish to have the experience of raising children of both sexes. Some couples, who already have children, could have financial reasons for not attempting a further pregnancy without assurance that the additional child will be of a specific sex.
Cheung S, Elias R, Xie P, Rosenwaks Z, Palermo GD (2023) A non-randomized clinical trial to determine the safety and efficacy of a novel sperm sex selection technique. PLoS ONE 18(3): e0282216. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0282216
(Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28, @02:19PM (9 children)
Since we're supposed to believe that sex is nothing more than a whim, what difference does it make whether the child has XY or XX chromosomes?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28, @03:51PM
I wonder if those with red-green colorblindness have better vision "resolution" for some scenarios. For example, if they have the same number of red and green "pixels" but the red pixels are actually also green pixels then everything else being equal would they have better eyesight for "green" stuff?
(Score: 2, Interesting) by khallow on Tuesday March 28, @05:42PM (3 children)
(Score: -1, Troll) by darkfeline on Tuesday March 28, @07:11PM
AC's point is in the glorious present, males can have babies too, or so I am told by all the media.
Join the SDF Public Access UNIX System today!
(Score: 2, Flamebait) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday March 29, @03:18AM
Gee, it's almost like men in general are dangerous, unstable, violent, and shortsighted. Hmm.
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 4, Interesting) by weirsbaski on Wednesday March 29, @06:04AM
The problem is more pervasive (perverse?) than that. One-man-many-wives groups (eg- Church of Jesus Christ and the Latter-day Saints) use overly-strict rules to encourage expulsion of excess males, so a 50-50-ish boy-girl ratio at birth turns into like 25-75 boy-girl when the kids reach marrying age. Because a way to maintain one-man-many-wives is to kick most males out for "being on the road to hell".
And of course the males who toed the line as youngsters are the ones who remained to enforce the rules as adults, which guarantees that their M.O. isn't going to change.
(Score: 3, Informative) by coolgopher on Tuesday March 28, @11:53PM (3 children)
Are you willfully confusing sex with gender, or do you genuinely not know the difference?
Besides, XX and XY aren't the only possibilities [genetic.org].
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Wednesday March 29, @03:05AM
Subtle language changes these days are giving the game away. The latest is the change from a baby's gender to their "Assigned gender at birth", as if the doctor is able to make some arbitrary decision that could easily have gone either way. Mistake made at the time? No problem - just legally change it down the track!
(Score: -1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday March 29, @05:50AM (1 child)
There are two genders: male (XY) and female (XX). Anything else is mental illness except for an insignificant number of people with serious genetic abnormalities.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Azuma Hazuki on Friday March 31, @01:26AM
There are two *sexes,* those being *mostly* determined by XX or XY genotype. Sex isn't binary, but it is bimodal, and so strongly that a binary description is useful, if naive. Gender is partly social and it's an emergent phenomenon that has a lot to do with how other people perceive you. There are societies where I'd be considered a third gender because I love other women.
Why does "well, only a tiny minority of people" strike you as a working argument? Are the outliers somehow less human?
I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Immerman on Tuesday March 28, @02:21PM (3 children)
Now you may call me pessimistic, but...
59 couples wanted a girl
231 female embryos created
16 girls born without any abnormalities
Does not strike me as results worth getting excited over.
Most importantly I'd like to know how many babies were born *with* abnormalities. That's a rather serious concern for safety, and I see no mention of it.
Beyond that -
With 292 embryos random chance would have resulted in ~149 female embryos, still 3x what were needed.
Normal IVF success rates are 38%, which with 59 couples would mean 22 children were expected, rather than the 27% success rate they had.
So it would seem, as much as conclusions can be drawn from such a small data set, that something about the process dramatically reduces the IVF success rate.
If there really aren't any side effects then I suppose it's nice that they create fewer embryos destined to be destroyed when parents want to choose the child's sex... but my understanding is that it's the nature of IVF that a lot of embryos are created to produce one healthy one suitable for implantation, so I'm not sure how big an ethical advantage you can really claim by reducing that number somewhat.
I could see a much better argument in favor of using sperm selection in conjunction with artificial insemination... but unless it's quite inexpensive I have my doubts that anyone would be willing to pay for the process to only increase their odds of getting the desired sex to 80%.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 28, @03:54PM
Can the embryos be tested for abnormalities and aborted if they have the abnormalities?
By the way, those who claim there are no racial differences, intelligence is not linked to genes, etc, they could use my sperm instead. 😏
(Score: 1) by tequila-sunrise on Tuesday March 28, @05:15PM (1 child)
They mention that the X-chromosome gamete is slightly heavier. So are they using a centrifuge to separate them? What happens to a sperm/egg in centrifuge at ???rpm, though? So agreed: more information is needed.
(Score: 4, Informative) by janrinok on Tuesday March 28, @05:53PM
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Opportunist on Tuesday March 28, @02:31PM
In some countries, you'd start to see a "women market" pop up simply due to the law of supply and demand...
(Score: 5, Interesting) by tangomargarine on Tuesday March 28, @02:32PM (1 child)
It's not like we're waiting until the child is born, saying "nope, it has a vagina", and throwing it down a cliff all Spartan-style or anything. We're talking about IVF. Why exactly would this be unethical? It hurts no one.
It might not be a *good* idea societally per se, but I don't see how it's unethical.
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Tuesday March 28, @03:11PM
So it's an expensive procedure, and it may not actually work. As long as you inform the patient about this up-front...
Or is this another symptom of our lawsuit-happy culture in the U.S., "your honor, I paid $320,000 for a 60% chance of success, and it FAILED! I want this doctor FIRED!"
"Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
(Score: 3, Touché) by wisnoskij on Tuesday March 28, @03:51PM (3 children)
A 5% chance of ending up with a baby is pretty horrendous odds.
(Score: 2) by SomeRandomGeek on Tuesday March 28, @05:44PM (2 children)
29 babies/115 couples = 25% chance
As fertility treatments go, that is not terrible.
(Score: 2) by wisnoskij on Tuesday March 28, @07:04PM (1 child)
Oh, I went from ~600 embryos to 20 kids. But I see they produced approximately 6 embryos per couple. That is a far more useful number.
Still, as products go it is fairly lackluster. Imagine going to a car dealership and spending 100k for a 25% chance of being given a car, then springing for the 10k color add-on that gives you a 80% chance that if you get the car you get to choose the color.
(Score: 2) by SomeRandomGeek on Wednesday March 29, @03:30PM
Some context might help. Let's say you are already paying $30k for IVF. https://www.forbes.com/health/family/how-much-does-ivf-cost/ [forbes.com]
And that gives you a 25% chance of having a child (up from almost nothing due to your personal circumstances.)
And the doctor says "While we're at it, do you want us to give the sperm a spin? It'll cost you an extra $500. It will change your odds from [12.5% preferred gender, 12.5% other gender, 75% failure] to [20% preferred gender, 5% other gender, 75% failure]."
Normal IVF success rate varies from 7 to 55% based on age. https://www.elite-ivf.com/ivf-success-rates-by-age. [elite-ivf.com] That makes it hard to tell whether this treatment had any impact on success rate.
(Score: 5, Funny) by EJ on Tuesday March 28, @04:13PM
You want a girl. You pay all the money. Then, you have to wait maybe 18+ years to find out if they is a girl or not.
(Score: 1, Troll) by Mojibake Tengu on Tuesday March 28, @08:15PM (1 child)
Is this technology able to select some or any of the currently recognized 96 genders of said sex?
The edge of 太玄 cannot be defined, for it is beyond every aspect of design
(Score: 5, Touché) by Tork on Tuesday March 28, @08:59PM
Slashdolt Logic: "25 year old jokes about sharks and lasers are +5, Funny." 💩
(Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday March 29, @08:17AM
This tendency can be amplified later in life.