Letter to HFEA on Sex Selection
By Tania Simoncelli and Marcy Darnovsky
| 01. 22. 2003
Vishnee Seenundun
Consultation Co-ordinator
HFEA
Paxton House
30 Artillery Lane
London E1 7LS
Dear Vishnee Seenundun,
We are writing to express our concern regarding the HFEA's
public consultation on sex selection, and to encourage you to
ensure that strong policies are upheld and further developed
against non-medical sex selection.
The Center for Genetics and Society is a U.S.-based non-profit
public interest organization working to encourage responsible
uses and democratic governance of the new human genetic and
reproductive technologies. In our work, we look to the HFEA
as a model for responsible regulation, and consider that your
work carries critical weight for international policy making
well beyond the UK. Conversely, we feel that the HFEA would
do well to consider U.S. experience in this field, where a virtual
absence of regulation has led to a shortchanging of ethical
and social considerations and an unacceptable level of permissiveness
in the fertility industry.
In general, we are concerned by the way in which the consultation
document, "Sex selection: Choice and responsibility in
reproduction" frames the consultation process around "risks
to health" and "reliability...
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