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PETBioNewsCommentWho should decide about embryo testing?

BioNews

Who should decide about embryo testing?

Published 18 June 2009 posted in Comment and appears in BioNews 415

Author

Dr Jess Buxton

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.

When the technology for testing IVF embryos for genetic mutations that cause disease was first developed over 15 years ago, its potential uses seemed pretty clear cut. Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) provided a way in which couples at high risk of having a child affected by a genetic disorder could...

When the technology for testing IVF embryos for genetic mutations that cause disease was first developed over 15 years ago, its potential uses seemed pretty clear cut. PGD provided a way in which couples at high risk of having a child affected by a genetic disorder could embark on a healthy pregnancy. The main issues in the early days were the experimental difficulties associated with carrying out genetic tests on the single cells removed from the 3-5 day old embryo, and extending the repertoire of diseases that could be tested for.

Today, PGD remains an expensive, technically demanding procedure that is still not widely available. But it has triggered more debate and controversy than perhaps any other area of reproductive or genetic medicine, with newspaper headlines about 'designer babies' and 'slippery slopes' appearing every time a new development is announced. In the UK, its use is more strictly regulated than that of prenatal tests - clinics must apply to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for a license to perform every new PGD test they wish to carry out.


In recent years, the use of PGD to help couples conceive tissue-matched babies who can help save the lives of sick siblings provoked a challenge to the way this technology is regulated in the UK. As well as 'saviour siblings', other unforeseen uses of PGD - such as sex selection for non-medical reasons, testing for diseases that do not appear until adulthood and testing for 'predispositions' to disease that may never result in illness - have also lead to new ethical and legal dilemmas. As we report in this week's BioNews, different national approaches to the regulation of PGD have lead to a growth in couples travelling abroad for treatment, often because their own country does not permit the procedure.


But is it the role of government to impose boundaries on PGD, or is it a decision for parents and their clinicians to make? This is the subject of a forthcoming public debate organised by Progress Educational Trust, the UK charity that publishes BioNews. The event will be chaired by Professor Marcus Pembrey, and will feature short presentations from three speakers - Ann Furedi, of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS); Alison Lashwood, of Guy's and St Thomas' Hospital, London; and John Wyatt, of University College London, followed by an open discussion of the issues raised. It will take place at 6.30pm at the Guardian Newsroom, London EC1R 3GA on Monday 16 July 2007. If you have not yet registered for this free event - part of a series of three debates funded by the Wellcome Trust exploring issues in genetics - then you can still do so, either by calling 020 7278 7870, or sending an email.

Related Articles

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
Comment
25 March 2013 • 4 minutes read

New Zealand needs a genuinely pro-choice approach to prenatal screening

by Colin Gavaghan

Being a bioethicist in the Antipodes is becoming a dangerous business these days. Just over a year ago, the publication, by two Australian academics, of a paper exploring the acceptability of 'post-birth abortion' led to media furore, hate mail and even death threats to the authors...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1997. Depicts the gyri of the Thinker's brain as a maze of choices in biomedical ethics (based on Auguste Rodin's 'The Thinker').
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1997. Depicts the gyri of the Thinker's brain as a maze of choices in biomedical ethics (based on the sculpture 'The Thinker' by Auguste Rodin).
Reviews
14 November 2012 • 3 minutes read

Book Review: The Ethics of Consent and Choice in Prenatal Screening

by Nkechi Nwachukwu

In this ambitious text, Eleanor Milligan peels back the ethical layers surrounding prenatal screening. She reveals a world in which women choosing if they should undergo prenatal screening are heavily influenced by social considerations and often demonstrate a lack of understanding about the technique. By exploring the many ethical factors which influence a woman's decision to undergo prenatal screening, Milligan highlights how many women who partake do so without truly giving their ...

Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the output from a DNA sequencing machine.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Peter Artymiuk via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts the shadow of a DNA double helix, on a background that shows the fluorescent banding of the sequencing output from an automated DNA sequencing machine.
News
9 June 2009 • 2 minutes read

Embryo test licence for early-onset Alzheimer's granted

by Katy Sinclair

The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has given permission to a fertility clinic to test a couple's embryos for early-onset Alzheimer's disease, a genetic condition that can manifest from the age of 35. The Bridge Centre has been granted the licence to screen embryos for...

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