DNA testing for wrong reasons

According to sources from Guangzhou Gynecology Research Institute, the first medical institution authorized to provide embryo DNA tests to determine paternity/maternity, most of those who went there for paternity tests were senior intellectuals. Some were married women with high academic degrees, who dragged their lovers there to do the genetic testing without their husband's knowledge, while some male professors wished to determine whether the unborn baby was the fruit of their wives' extramarital affairs.

Of all those who asked for the DNA testing, 90 per cent were married women between the ages of 25 and 30. Once the test results revealed the child was not the one they wished for, many "mothers" invented an excuse and aborted the foetus.

The above news account carried in the Information Times on November 21 calls to mind the working of a computer where the chips can be inserted or pulled out freely and the software programmes installed or erased at one's will. There is something truly bizarre about the way the elite of our society have exploited the genetic testing technology in such a wanton way.

Who would have thought there were so many intellectuals with high-ranking academic titles who could treat pregnancy, a very serious matter for human beings, just like a component inside a computer? Can it be true that the more erudite one is, the more careless about love, sex and life one becomes?

Some senior professionals, in contrast with their attainments in their fields, are morally unhealthy at heart. They have no respect for those whom they have loved before, or the new-found ones whom they currently have affection for. They lack the basic care and concern for the well-being of their dearest ones, even their own flesh and blood.

And they play the love game freely until they reach the point where even an unborn baby's paternal identity has to be verified with the help of genetic testing. If luck goes against the foetus, a potential life will be eliminated. I am really startled to see the highbrows with higher educational backgrounds so self-centred and callous as to end the life of their own child in such a cruel manner.

This shows how far they have reduced themselves to self-indulgence - sexually, emotionally and mentally - while in pursuit of what they may call free expression of emotion. And those women who are confused about which sexual partner is their unborn baby's father really commit a blasphemy against love and life.

I won't argue the rights and wrongs of abortion in general terms. It is such a big issue. After all, in our country abortion is a personal matter without any legal restraints. Ethically speaking, however, it is only love that should lead to sex. Therefore, love is the seed of pregnancy, the touchstone of virtue between couples. Any sex or resultant pregnancy that is not rooted firmly in true love is not accepted by traditional morality. Nor will it be accepted by any culture that holds sacred the value of mutual faith and fidelity.

There is little wonder that the irresponsible behaviour of some of the young elite intellectuals originates in their lack of awareness and degradation of moral principles. And above all, they haven't learned to discipline themselves. In some sense, the ignorance of moral integrity on their part reflects the flaws of the old education system through which they were brought up.

While it is urgent to further improve and strengthen the ideological and moral education of juveniles, it is equally important to address the emotional and ethical problems for young intellectuals, and help them make up the character-building lessons they missed in their school days. This will also be conducive to long-term stability and safety of society. At the same time, we must draw lessons from these "high-end products" of the old education system in carrying forward the current reform.

Of course, the above statistics may not be representative of the general scenario in China. However, it certainly merits attention.

By Xu Shengsheng

http://www.sina.com.cn 2004/12/08