More children with birth defects are born in China. (Photo : Getty Images)
After 2003, couples are not required by the government to take medical examinations before getting married. There is now an estimated 1 million babies born with birth defects.
Some couples still underwent the check-up. A woman from Chongqing Province who got married in August said that they did it "for the sake of their baby".
The government reported that in 2003, there had been 900,000 babies with birth defects. The number doubled and the spike occurred when the premarital check-ups were made voluntary.
The state media Xinhua reported that 16.55 million newborn babies in the country.
The rise in the number of sick newborns led to abandonment. About 99 percent of abandoned babies have defects.
Parents are said to abandon their sick babies because of the rising cost of care.
According to Lei Dongzu, deputy chief of the First People's Hospital in Chenzhou, it costs a family 1.09 million yuan ($163,000) to raise a baby with a severe birth defect.
Sun Ran, a doctor at a kindergarten in Beijing's Dongcheng district, said, "Currently, we have three measures to reduce the rate of birth defects, the first is voluntary premarital medical check-ups, then examinations during pregnancy, and we also advocate preventive measures after the baby is born."
He added, "The government canceled compulsory check-ups to protect citizens' privacy, and some said it violated the freedom of marriage, but many young couples think it is unnecessary or they simply forget about it."
There is also a link between birth defects and the quality of air and food in the country. A 10-year research was made by Peking University Health Science Center and the University of Texas at Austin in coal-rich areas of China.
Frederica Perera, one of the study's authors and the director of the Columbia Center for Children's Environmental Health, said, "The fetus is extremely sensitive to exposure to toxic chemicals. The organs and brain are rapidly developing, and the metabolic and DNA repair systems are not as efficient as in adults there is less ability to clear out toxic chemicals."
