Andrea Russell In Britain, a couple is due to give birth to a genetically modified baby who will be free of the breast

cancer gene. The childs parents opted for genetic screening tests in the hope of freeing their offspring from the disease that has afflicted the lives of relatives for many generations. Without screening they feared any girl they had would be likely to develop a fast spreading, hard to treat form of breast cancer which runs on both sides of their families. Doctors at University College Hospital in London created embryos through IVF and then screened them for the cancer gene before transferring only two healthy ones into the womb, one which resulted in the pregnancy. The sex of the baby is not known. Dr. Paul Serahal, director of the hospitals assisted conception unit said the pioneering treatment allowed the parents the chance of a healthy family and he hoped many couples would benefit from pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, or PGD. Pro-Life supporters in England have created an uproar surrounding the case and procedure. They claim it is morally wrong to weed out imperfect babies and have described the technique, in which unhealthy embryos are disposed of, as a tool to search and kill. The couple, who naturally wish to remain anonymous, explained in an interview that they did not enter into this procedure lightly. They received genetic counseling and went through a lot of soul searching before deciding to move ahead with the treatment. The woman explained that three generations on her side had been diagnosed with the disease and two on the side of her husband, who was tested and is a carrier of the gene. Had the couple conceived naturally, any child would have a 50% chance of carrying the gene and any girl born with the BRCA1 gene would have an 80% chance of developing the disease. The gene also gives a woman a 60% increased chance of ovarian cancer and raises a mans risk of prostate cancer. The couple felt that due to their family history and learning the statistical probabilities, they had an obligation to enter treatment.

Until recently PGD was used only for genes that invariably caused incurable diseases when inherited, such as cystic fibrosis. Two years ago the British governments fertility legislator, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority relaxed those rules. Doctors can now screen for genes that, while raising the risk of illness, do not always lead to the condition. They can also look for identified genes that cause disease later in an individuals life, for example, a rare inherited form of Alzheimers. Addressing concerns that PGD is another step towards babies made-to-order by eye or hair color or enhanced I.Q., Dr. Serahal said, these are serious diseases, not characteristics. We are not using this technology for something banal or irrelevant. There is a world of difference between preventing breast cancer in a child and picking out their eye color.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/sci/tech/1312708.stm