Designer babies - genetic testing
- From: J <nexsw@nvalid,anon>
- Date: Thu, 26 Apr 2007 15:32:49 -0400
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uklatest/story/0,,-6589138,00.html
Cancer family embryos may be tested
Press Association
Thursday April 26, 2007 6:48 PM
Two couples whose families have suffered breast cancer are set to become
the first to have embryos screened to prevent them having children at risk
of developing the disease.
This would allow them to choose embryos which are free from a gene that
carries a greater risk of cancer, but does not always cause it.
The Times newspaper reported that Paul Serhal, of University College
London Hospital, is applying to test for the BRCA1 gene. The Human
Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) said it has not yet received
a formal application. But it has already developed a policy on the matter
and any such application could be approved within months.
The fertility regulator has also launched a debate on the ethics of hybrid
animal-human embryos. The public consultation will be followed in
September by a policy decision on whether or not to allow such research
from the HFEA, which has already faced criticism for holding up the
experiments.
It decided to seek the public's opinions after the Government announced
plans to ban the creation of animal-human hybrids.
The embryos would aid stem cell research by allowing scientists to use
animal rather than human eggs. Two teams of British scientists have
applied to the HFEA to be allowed to produce embryos that would be 99.9%
human and 0.1% animal.
The newspaper reported that one of the couples, named only as Matthew and
Helen, have lost three generations to breast cancer. It said that Helen,
22, from Bedford, discovered at the age of 12 that her mother had breast
cancer caused by the BRCA1 gene, which she later found out she had
inherited. Her mother went into remission but died after developing
ovarian cancer.
Despite "designer babies" fears from critics, Mr Serhal told the
newspaper: "What we are trying to do here is to prevent this inherited
disease from being a possibility in the first place. At least with these
people's children, we can annihilate this gene from the family tree."
A spokesman for the HFEA emphasised that any applications would be treated
on a "case by case" basis. Any applications to the HFEA would go through a
"peer review", being examined by other scientists before a licence would
be awarded.
Josephine Quintavalle, director of embryo rights group Comment on
Reproductive Ethics (CORE), said: "This is not an acceptable way forward.
It is not a solution to breast cancer and not a cure. It's already leading
in the direction of a quest for perfection. There is no such thing as an
absolutely perfect human being."
.
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