What is a designer baby?

Question: can you write an article about preimplantation genetic diagnosis PGD without mentioning the words 'designer' and 'baby'? Answer: not unless you are a very rare breed of journalist.

This week, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority launched a public consultation on PGD. In the consultation document, no mention was made of designer babies, but the media coverage of the consultation document was peppered with the image. In fact, in a total of seven articles on the subject in the British press, designer babies were mentioned 17 times. The BioNews award of excellence in journalism goes to Sarah Boseley of the Guardian, who wrote a very informative piece without once giving in to temptation.

Of course, it's very easy to be critical of the media coverage of such issues  - I actually think it was pretty good in this instance. It's also easy to grumble about how misunderstood PGD is by the public and to demand that the phrase 'designer babies' should be banned from all debate about it. But it's a bit too late for all of that. Designer babies and PGD are inextricably linked in the public consciousness and are likely to stay that way for the foreseeable future. It is an unfortunate fact of life today that any debate about a new technology - reproductive or otherwise - is more likely to focus upon potential misuse than potential use.

Given this reality, it seems better to engage in the debate than to seek to dismiss it. But that doesn't mean we should let talk of designer babies go ahead unchallenged. For instance, when people talk about designer babies, what exactly do they mean? Do they mean choosing to transfer an embryo which is free from a very mild disease or do they mean choosing an embryo because it has a particular characteristic which is not associated with disease? Perhaps designer babies means altering the genes of embryos so that naturally occurring features are enhanced. Elsewhere in the field of reproductive medicine, the designer babies spectre is heralded if a women decides to freeze her embryos in order to get pregnant later in life or if she chooses to go to a sperm bank in order to conceive.

Let's continue to have a debate about where - if at all - the line should be drawn in the provision of PGD services. We can also talk about designer babies. But let's at least clarify the parameters of the debate and make it clear exactly what we're talking about. Over the next few months, Progress Educational Trust will be helping this debate to take place. I hope you'll join in.