The government's fertility watchdog has allowed an extension of a controversial embryo selection technique which would help women with a family history of breast cancer to have healthy children.
But campaigners on the ethics of reproductive technology have denounced the move to extend preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) as another step towards allowing "designer babies". Scientists argue that by eliminating embryos at high risk of developing the disease they can prevent suffering.
Dame Suzi Leather, chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said the decision to extend testing for breast, ovarian and bowel cancers had been taken because of "the aggressive nature of the cancers, the impact of treatment and the extreme anxiety that carriers of the gene can experience".
She denied it was part of a slippery slope towards genetic testing for trivial genetic characteristics. "This is not about opening the door to wholesale genetic testing," she said. "This is about considering a particular group of genetic conditions to be sufficiently serious to merit the use of PGD embryo testing."
PGD involves selecting a healthy embryo for implantation into the mother's womb during IVF. The procedure entails removing a single cell from the fertilised embryo once it starts to divide in the laboratory. If genetic tests on that cell are normal, the embryo is implanted into the womb and the pregnancy continues normally. Currently 10 clinics in the UK are licensed to provide the service for serious genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis.
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, criticised the move as a "eugenic approach" to medicine. "It's about a quest for perfection which is rather unhealthy," she said.
But Peter Braude, a PGD expert at King's College London, said the technique was "a key component of good preventive medicine". Dame Suzi said mothers would not be compelled to accept the treatment. "Not every family who carries a condition would want to have PGD and the availability of this option should not dictate a woman's treatment," she said.
The HFEA's meeting in Belfast, which was open to members of the public, also discussed whether women should be permitted to donate eggs for research which could lead to treatments for other diseases but failed to reach a decision. Although such "altruistic" egg donations can be made to help infertile women, eggs for research can only be taken from women already undergoing fertility treatment or those being sterilised.
"There was particular concern about the availability of proper information for women about the donation process and how to ensure there was properly informed consent," said Dame Suzi .
