Screening embryos for breast cancer

A slippery slope?

Until recently, the screening – called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) – was approved only for genes that always cause diseases when inherited, such as in cystic fibrosis . . .

. . . Last May, the watchdog ruled it acceptable for doctors to screen embryos for genes such as BRCA1, which raise the risk of cancer in adulthood by 60-80%.

However, it still has to approve each application on a “case by case” basis – something these couples are still waiting for.

Critics say if the HFEA does give the go ahead it is a continued journey down a slippery slope to “designer babies”. There is concern that in the future embryos could be screened for non-lethal and even trivial conditions.

Also, the procedure means that affected embryos are created and then destroyed.