Author
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CRAN, D - MASTERCALF, LTD |
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Johnson, Lawrence |
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Submitted to: Journal of Human Reproduction
Publication Type: Review Article Publication Acceptance Date: 6/13/1996 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: The potential of producing offspring of a predetermined sex has been a goal which has exercised the imagination of mankind over many generations. Numberous suggesiton, some more fanciful than others, have been proposed, particularly in the human, and a variety of popular articles continue to be written puporting to allow gender selection. One of the more recent (Ridley, 1994) provides tantilising evidence that, under certain circumstances, such as following major wars, the sex of children may be non random, but how this if effective is still far from clear. In the human, a desire to predetermine sex is generally based on social values of a wish to to avoid the potential of conception of a child with an X-linked recessive disorder of which more than 370 have been listed (McKusick, 1992). In farm animals the driving force has been economic advantage through genetic gain and optimisation of farm management. For example, dairy farmers, in general, would prefer to have a preponderance of female offspring for herd replacement with rather few males. Farmers who gain their livelihood from beef production would clearly prefer the converse since growth rate is sex linked. |
