Drive against advertisers, importers of sex determination kits

New Delhi, Mar 23 (UNI) The Health Ministry has launched a drive against the companies importing 'baby Gender Mentor Home DNA Test Kits' that are used for sex determination to tackle the increasing threat of female foeticide in the country.

Some overseas agencies are freely posting advertisements pertaining to sex determination services and wares on internet.

Websites like www.GenSelect.com, www.4-gender-selection.com, www.pregnancystore.com etc., are offering sex determination kits called the 'baby Gender Mentor Home DNA Test Kit', that help the buyer determine the sex of the foetus through DNA analysis at home.

This may ultimately result in female foeticide and contribute to already declining sex ratio.

The Health Ministry has referred the matter to the Ministry of Communications &IT asking it to block the offending websites. But, the latter expressed said such an action did not render the promoters of such sites completely ineffective as they could re-emerge and be available for the viewers again under a new nomenclature and in a new avatar, according to the ministry sources.

To identify the people involved, the issue was then taken up with the Department of Revenue, Ministry of Finance, to trap the people importing the sex determination kits pandered by the offending overseas websites into the Country.

The Ministry also wrote letters to the Customs Department asking for details of the individuals or organisations who have imported the sex determination (Gender Testing) kits from abroad to facilitate the Government to proceed further against such people under Section 23 (3) of the Pre Conception&Pre Natal Sex Determination Test Act and also to intercept and not release such articles under the Customs Act.

In response to the request, the Customs Department have suitably alerted their field formations not to release the imported Gender Testing Kits and to take appropriate action under the Customs Act, sources said.

The declining sex ratio has been a matter of great concern for the government which has called for concerted action from all quarters to contain the menace of female foeticide and ushering in a healthy sex ratio in the Country.

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