Aggregated News
A baby born in England recently was chosen in the embryonic stage to be free of a gene linked with certain types of cancer.
"This little girl will not face the specter of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life," said Paul Serhal, medical director of the assisted conception unit at University College hospital, London.
The case is not the first of its kind.
In the United States, a man with an 50 percent chance of passing on a gene for deadly colon cancer used the technique, too. He and his wife had embryos screened prior to implanting one in her womb, resulting in a daughter that won't get the disease.
The British woman, who has remained anonymous, made the decision in June to undergo screening of 11 embryos, each three days old, because her husband's female relatives suffered cancers, according to The Guardian. "We felt that, if there was a possibility of eliminating this for our children, then that was a route we had to go down," she said at the time...
"This little girl will not face the specter of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life," said Paul Serhal, medical director of the assisted conception unit at University College hospital, London.
The case is not the first of its kind.
In the United States, a man with an 50 percent chance of passing on a gene for deadly colon cancer used the technique, too. He and his wife had embryos screened prior to implanting one in her womb, resulting in a daughter that won't get the disease.
The British woman, who has remained anonymous, made the decision in June to undergo screening of 11 embryos, each three days old, because her husband's female relatives suffered cancers, according to The Guardian. "We felt that, if there was a possibility of eliminating this for our children, then that was a route we had to go down," she said at the time...