Screening out gay gene not far off either



British woman pregnant with cancer-gene-free 'designer baby': report

A British woman has become the first in the country to conceive a
"designer baby" selected specifically to avoid an inherited cancer, The
Times said Saturday.

The woman, who was not identified, used controversial genetic screening
technology to ensure she does not pass on to her child the condition
retinoblastoma, an hereditary form of eye cancer from which she
suffers.

Doctors tested embryos created by the woman and her partner using
in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) methods for the cancer gene. Only
unaffected embryos were implanted in her womb, the newspaper said.

It suggested the woman's pregnancy would increase controversy over the
procedure -- pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) -- because
critics say it involves destroying otherwise healthy embryos whose
conditions are treatable.

She was treated by Paul Serhal, the country's leading specialist in PGD
who has licences from regulator the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Authority (HFEA) to screen for retinoblastoma and a form of bowel
cancer.

The HFEA relaxed rules earlier this week allowing embryos to be
screened for a wider number of genetically-inherited diseases. PGD has
been used successfully before in the United States, The Times said.

Serhal was quoted as saying: "We are all elated. We are talking about
annihilating this abnormal gene from the whole family line. We do this
often, but it is always extraordinary when it comes off."

His clinic at University College London is now planning to apply for a
licence to screen a patient's embryos for a gene that raises the
lifetime risk of breast cancer by 80 percent, The Times said.

© 2006 AFP




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