Aggregated News
LONDON (Reuters) - The fertility watchdog decided on Wednesday to extend genetic screening of human embryos used in IVF treatments to check for faulty genes that increase the risk of breast, ovarian and bowel cancers.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had previously only allowed a technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis and two cancers that affect young adults and children.
"The authority agreed that we should consider the use of PGD embryo testing for conditions such as inherited breast, ovarian and bowel cancers," said HFEA chair Suzi Leather.
"These conditions differ from those already licensed before because people at risk do not always develop cancer, it may occur later in life and some treatments may be available," she added in a statement.
But Leather said the decision does not open the door for wholesale genetic testing, as some critics have suggested. The circumstances of each case will be carefully assessed, she added.
It means families with the inherited cancers can have embryos screened before transfer to the woman's womb to...
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had previously only allowed a technique known as pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis and two cancers that affect young adults and children.
"The authority agreed that we should consider the use of PGD embryo testing for conditions such as inherited breast, ovarian and bowel cancers," said HFEA chair Suzi Leather.
"These conditions differ from those already licensed before because people at risk do not always develop cancer, it may occur later in life and some treatments may be available," she added in a statement.
But Leather said the decision does not open the door for wholesale genetic testing, as some critics have suggested. The circumstances of each case will be carefully assessed, she added.
It means families with the inherited cancers can have embryos screened before transfer to the woman's womb to...