Pills won't bring a boy, pregnant women told
October 6, 2009
Raveena Aulakh
STAFF REPORTER
Public health officials in Peel are warning people, especially pregnant women, against popping illicit pills following a Saturday Star article about the pressure on young women from India, particularly from Punjab, to give birth to boys.
"Women should be very leery of taking any kind of medication from unlicensed dealers. It's not without hazard," Joan Davison, family health manager, said Monday. "If you have any questions, you need any pills at all, please go to your family doctor."
Davison made her comments after the article – which highlighted the desperate measures women are taking to avoid giving birth to girls, including aborting female fetuses – reported that a man was selling pills he claimed could increase a woman's chance of giving birth to a boy by 85 per cent. He told a Star reporter, posing as a pregnant woman, that they were herbal pills, had no side effects and cost $750.
Davison pointed out there is no "known pill that can determine the sex of a fetus. That happens at the time of conception," she said.
Christelle Legault, a spokeswoman for Health Canada, which is responsible for the health, safety and conditions for sale of drugs and natural health products, said the federal agency "is looking into the case."
Meanwhile, radio jumped to the forefront in the fight against female feticide in Toronto's Punjabi community. Since the article was published, radio shows have been inundated by callers, said Makhan Samra, host of the popular Nachda Punjab on the weekend.
"No one wanted to acknowledge the problem earlier," said Samra. But everything changed over the weekend when emotional women called up and talked about their experiences.
When Jaswinder Sidhu came on air Monday with his weekday show Radio Parvasi, he also faced a barrage of questions about how attitudes can be changed. "It was an open discussion. I'm relieved we are talking about it ... accepting there's a problem."
Punjabi Community Health Services, a Brampton-based organization that works with the community, started a research project a couple of months ago to understand how deep the bias against women runs. The first batch of findings will be released by filmmaker Deepa Mehta next month, said Baldev Mutta, the agency's executive director.
Even theatre has taken on the challenge of changing attitudes. In Surrey, B.C., which has a large Punjabi population, a play with the theme of female feticide was staged a couple of weeks ago. The play has travelled to Edmonton and Calgary. Its next stop is Toronto, says Baljinder Lailna of Punjabi Arts Association of Toronto.
"Theatre," Lailna says, "is a good way to get any message across."
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Desperate mothers go great lengths to have a boy
Toronto Star