ExclusiveBlood samples to identify sex of babies are being hidden in toys and food and smuggled into Hong Kong, driven by mainland China’s preference for boys

Practice raises ethical issues over gender selection and medical hygiene

Post finds mainland Chinese agents offering courier services of blood samples into city, where test is allowed under proper guidelines

5-MIN READ5-MIN

Blood tests for pregnant women in Hong Kong are usually done to detect genetic defects, and gender selection is unethical, experts say.

Published: 8:00am, 6 May 2019Updated: 4:30pm, 6 May 2019

An underground trade in Hong Kong involving the smuggling of blood samples from across the border to identify the sex of unborn babies is thriving, the Post has found, with online agents for such businesses and government investigations into the matter on the rise.

In some cases, clients were encouraged to hide blood samples in plush toys or packaged food, to be delivered across mainland China and into the city.

The demand stems from the limit on the number of children for mainland households, coupled with a pervasive tradition that favours sons. This has fuelled the desire of some parents to identify the sex of fetuses, through tests banned on the mainland but available in Hong Kong.

The trend, which leads to a wider gender imbalance on the mainland from parents terminating pregnancies in which the fetus is found to be female, has sparked a crackdown by the central government on illegal blood sample exports since 2015.

In Hong Kong, medical professionals and lawmakers have called for stronger regulation to avoid ethical and public health issues.

In March, a 12-year-old student was caught at Luohu customs trying to smuggle 142 blood samples in her school bag, the largest haul of its kind at the port in the past two years. In 2017, two Hong Kong passengers were caught at the port trying to smuggle 100 and 73 blood samples respectively.