Consultation launched in UK on embryo testing

A public consultation document on preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) - a so-called 'designer babies' procedure - was published last week by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), a statutory body which licenses infertility treatments in the UK, and the Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing (ACGT). The consultation period will last approximately four months, ending in March next year. The procedure, known as PGD, has been in use since 1990 to help couples at high risk of passing on a severe genetic disorder to have children who are free from the inherited condition. Many of the tests used in PGD are used in prenatal diagnostic tests such as amniocentisis. But, performing these tests on an embryo in vitro may offer some couples greater reproductive choice by allowing them to start a pregnancy knowing that any resulting children will be free from the disorder in question. Approximately 20 babies have been born following 200 PGD treatments in the UK since the procedure was first used in 1990. The HFEA and the ACGT want to know whether the public finds it acceptable for PGD to be used to screen embryos for debilitating conditions - as has been the case so far. If this is acceptable, they want to know where the public thinks a line should be drawn - if one should be drawn at all. This means that testing for late-onset inherited disorders and conditions of a non-life threatening nature are key issues under discussion. HFEA chairman, Mrs Ruth Deech, said: 'New scientific advances, especially in the field of genetics, often cause public unease and present us with complex social, ethical and regulatory questions. We feel it's time the public had a say.' She added: 'The HFEA decided it would be unacceptable to allow PGD to be used to test for any social, physical or psychological characteristics, or any other conditions that are not associated with serious, often life-threatening, medical disorders'.