Aggregated News
CLINICS could soon be screening embryos for genes that carry a predisposition to breast cancer and other tumours.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) announced yesterday that it is to consult the public about letting couples choose embryos free from genetic defects. The defects raise the risk of cancer but do not always trigger it.
If the response is favourable, the authority is expected to start approving applications to use the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technique early next year. It may even do so before the consultation is over if urgent licence requests are received.
Several British clinics are ready to offer the test to families with a history of certain cancers, and University College Hospital (UCH), London, has started asking breast cancer patients whether they would be interested in having it.
The review will intensify public debate over the ethics of PGD, used since the early 1990s to allow carriers of genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis to avoid passing them on. The procedure, which is licensed at ten centres in Britain, involves creating embryos by in-vitro fertilisation...