Thursday, July 22, 2004
Ruling on embryos clears the way for 'designer babies'
The UK fertility watchdog yesterday gave the go-ahead for parents to create "designer babies" who can act as genetically-matched donors for their sick siblings.
In a controversial policy change, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) decided to relax the rules governing the screening of embryos before they are implanted in the womb.
Experts predict that around 20 couples a year may now use the procedure to create "donor siblings". But anti-abortion groups warned the policy change could lead to babies being created as "spare parts" rather than as human beings in their own right.
Over the last three years, several applications to the HFEA have been made by couples who want to use pre-genetic diagnosis (PGD) screening to help them select embryos which will be a genetic match and donor for existing children suffering from life-threatening diseases and whose only hope is a stem cell transplant.
The UK fertility watchdog yesterday gave the go-ahead for parents to create "designer babies" who can act as genetically-matched donors for their sick siblings.
In a controversial policy change, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) decided to relax the rules governing the screening of embryos before they are implanted in the womb.
Experts predict that around 20 couples a year may now use the procedure to create "donor siblings". But anti-abortion groups warned the policy change could lead to babies being created as "spare parts" rather than as human beings in their own right.
Over the last three years, several applications to the HFEA have been made by couples who want to use pre-genetic diagnosis (PGD) screening to help them select embryos which will be a genetic match and donor for existing children suffering from life-threatening diseases and whose only hope is a stem cell transplant.
