Possibility Of Mongol Child Now Predictable

Press, Volume C, Issue 29444, 21 February 1961, Page 16

Possibility Of Mongol Child Now Predictable

It is now possible to determine, by examination of chromosomes, whether a couple is likely to have a mongoloid baby. Dr. T. N. MacGregor, an Edinburgh gynaecologist, said in Christchurch yesterday. ' Dr. MacGregor is the visiting Sims Black professor for 1961. Mongolism is a state in which a child has an abnormally.low mentality, and tends to have facial characteristics of the Mongol rather than the European race. Such children are usually born to mothers who are older than the average child-bearing age. The chromosomes rods within the nuclei of body cells—were abnormal in mongoloids, and the possibility of the abnormality occurring in a child could now be forecast by examination of the parents' chromosomes, said Dr. MacGregor. Mongolism was not very

prevalent in New Zealand, as most women here tended to have their children between 20 and 30. Other work in which he had taken part in Edinburgh showed that between 30 and 40 per cent, of all female human sex abnormalities were due to abnormal chromosome patterns, which meant they must be Inheritable, said Dr.

MacGregor. “This is a new investigation which will probably have important applications in the future,'* he added. In a lighter vein, he complimented New Zealand women for “managing to preserve their figures so well after having three or four children. “I don’t know how they do it when they get so little domestic help,” Dr. MacGregor commented.

“This is a delightful country to live in,” he said. “As I look around, I am persuaded there is only one social class. I have not seen a suspicion of real slums anywhere. The slums I was shown in Christchurch today seemed quite respectable villas to me. Everyone looks prosperous and welldressed.

“I was appalled, however, on arrival in New Zealand at Auckland late on a Friday night to find, when I went out to acquire a few things, that everywhere was closed for the weekend.

"Mrs MacGregor and I have found tremendous kindness and friendliness wherever we have been,” he added. Dr. MacGregor is senior consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist to the Western General Hospital, Edinburgh; gynaecological endocrinologist at the Royal Infirmary, Edinburgh; and lecturer in clinical obstetrics and gynaecological endocrinology at Edinburgh University. His first major appointment

in New Zealand was at the British Medical Association conference in Auckland, where he was president of the section on obstetrics and gynaecology. From there he went to Wairakei as guest speaker at the third congress arranged by the New Zealand regional council of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. He was chairman at the final session, which

was on foetal distress. The standard of the papers presented, he said, "could not have been bettered anywhere in the world.’* Dr. and Mrs MacGregor will be guests of honour today at a luncheon given by the North Canterbury Hospital Board. The luncheon is being attended also by seven other eminent guests, including Sir Arthur and Lady Sims who made the Sims Black professorships possible.