Rational debate on 'incest' IVF needed

Weekend news of a woman who is to conceive using her brother's sperm has caused a flurry of press attention in the UK. The clinic involved, the Bridge Centre in London, seems to be on its own in defending its decision to help the woman conceive. Most others commentators - pro- and anti-IVF alike - have described the proposed treatment as wrong, unnatural, but most of all incestuous.

Most people seem to feel very uncomfortable about this sister-brother arrangement. But are they right to think of it as incest? There are two reasons why society objects to incest. The first is that it involves a sexual relationship between siblings - a relationship which is supposed to be fraternal rather than sexual. The second reason why incest is frowned up is because any child who might be born from such a relationship might be harmed - either physically (because the chance of abnormality is higher in children born of genetic siblings) or emotionally (because its parents have a distorted relationship).

These are sound reasons why incest is ill-advised. But are they relevant to the case in question? This woman and her brother do not have a sexual relationship but, as far as we know, a perfectly normal fraternal relationship. The child is to be conceived through IVF using a donor egg, thereby eradicating any concerns about physical abnormality.

But what about the emotional welfare of the resulting child? Gedes Grudzinskas, director of the clinic, has likened the situation to that of a woman acting as an egg donor for her sister, a practice which is not uncommon in the UK. Does the existence of a genetic relationship between a child and its uncle or aunt cause psychological or emotional damage to that child? There is no indication of this with sister-to-sister donation, but follow-up research is hard to come by. What seems to be important from such research is not whether a genetic link between exists, but how a child is told about it and how it is handled in the family from then on.

Maybe this isn't the best setting in which to bring up a child. The truth is we don't really know. But we should surely do the woman and the clinic the service of carefully considering the issue before jumping to accusations of wrongdoing. The parties concerned have considered the matter carefully and went to the trouble of including the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in their deliberations. Perhaps others should show equal caution.