A 'designer baby' hit the headlines in the UK last week, even though the child in question has not yet been conceived, let alone born. It's future brother, three-year old Zain Hashmi has a rare blood disorder, thalassaemia, which can only be cured with a bone marrow transplant from a...
The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has given permission to an IVF clinic to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in order to select an embryo free from disease, and that will be a genetic match for an already existing child. Although such a procedure has already occurred in...
This week's BioNews reports on the HFEA's announcement that it will in principle permit preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and tissue typing in IVF units in the United Kingdom. But whilst families keenly awaiting this opportunity were delighted, not everyone was happy to hear the news. There was, of course, the...
The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) announced last week that it would, in principle, allow the use of HLA (Human Leukocyte Antigen) typing, more commonly known as 'tissue typing', in conjunction with preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for serious disease. The HFEA will consider each application to use the...
Following a two-year public consultation, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the Human Genetics Commission have announced that there is wide support for embryo screening - otherwise known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) - for couples where there is a family history of serious genetic disorders. The two organisations said...
Since news of the Hashmi family broke in the UK last week, various commentators have offered their pearls of wisdom on the issue of having a baby in order to find a bone marrow match for an existing child. One main worry seems to have emerged: motive. Some commentators have...
Over the next few days, the media is likely to be mulling over the story of Mr and Mrs Hashmi. The couple would like to use preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to have a child both free from beta thalassaemia and who would be a suitable blood donor to two-year old...
News this week from Chicago that a baby has been born after preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for Li-Fraumeni syndrome has, once again, prompted careless talk of designer babies. A number of US newspaper reports covered the story at the end of last week and couldn't resist mention of how PGD...
The first baby screened for a genetic predisposition to cancer later in life has been born in America. Scientists from the Reproductive Genetics Institute in Chicago announced the birth of the baby boy following IVF and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), on Thursday last week. Eighteen embryos were tested, and the...
New embryo research guidelines were issued last week by the main research funding agency in Germany, the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG). The guidelines would allow German researchers to use imported human embryonic stem cells. Currently, Germany law allows scientists to work on fetal stem cells but not those derived from embryos...
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