Beijing seizes fetus gender testing kits from U.S.

Beijing authorities said Wednesday they had seized fetus gender testing kits from the United States among parcels mailed to Chinese consumers who placed orders on an online commerce platform.

Three packs of testing kits were seized by the Beijing Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau last week, the bureau said in a press release.

The testing kits can allegedly predict the sex of a fetus in the first five to 10 weeks of pregnancy through drops of urine, the document said, quoting the product's user guide.

The test paper turns green for boys and orange for girls, it said.

The bureau said it will destroy the testing kits and demand the online shopping platform to stop such transactions.

Prenatal gender testing for non-medical reasons is banned in China, out of fears that predicting the sex of the fetus may lead to abortions and worsen the gender imbalance among newborns.

Individuals and organizations that perform medically unnecessary prenatal sex prediction or sex-selective abortions will be fined up to 30,000 yuan (4,435 U.S. dollars) and their income from the illegal screenings and abortions will be confiscated, according to a revised regulation that took effect in May.

The regulation, jointly issued by the National Health and Family Planning Commission, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce and the China Food and Drug Administration, aims to tackle China's gender imbalance, a result of pre-birth sex prediction and sex-selective abortions driven by cultural preference for sons.

The sex ratio at birth stood at 113.51 in 2015, much higher than the normal ratio of between 103 and 107, though it has decreased from 121.18 in 2004. Endi