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Test-tube embryos may be screened for risk of cancer
By Mark Henderson
New plan may let couples pick baby who is free of some danger genes
http://127.0.0.1:1027/bug.cgi CLINICS could soon be screening embryos for genes that carry a predisposition to breast cancer and other tumours.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) announced yesterday that it is to consult the public about letting couples choose embryos free from genetic defects. The defects raise the risk of cancer but do not always trigger it.
NI_MPU(‘middle’);If the response is favourable, the authority is expected to start approving applications to use the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technique early next year. It may even do so before the consultation is over if urgent licence requests are received.
Several British clinics are ready to offer the test to families with a history of certain cancers, and University College Hospital (UCH), London, has started asking breast cancer patients whether they would be interested in having it.
The review will intensify public debate over the ethics of PGD, used since the early 1990s to allow carriers of genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis to avoid passing them on. The procedure, which is licensed at ten centres in Britain, involves creating embryos by in-vitro fertilisation, then growing them to the eight-cell stage. One cell is removed and tested for genetic disease, and only unaffected embryos are implanted into the womb.
The authority has previously approved it only for genetic mutations that invariably lead to a disease that is untreatable or strikes in childhood.
Last year, The Times disclosed that the authority had set a precedent by granting UCH a licence to test embryos for a gene called FAP, which triggers bowel cancer when carriers reach their late teens or early twenties. Patients can substantially reduce their risk by having much of their colon removed.
The latest proposal is to allow clinics to screen embryos for genes that are not “fully penetrant”. The consultation, which will start in the autumn, will focus chiefly on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which raise the risk of a woman contracting breast cancer to between 60 and 80 per cent.
Those who have either gene also have a 40 to 60 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer. Many women who have one of the BRCA genes, however, do not contract cancer, and those who do generally remain healthy until their thirties. Those who know that they carry either can reduce their risk by 90 per cent by having a preventive mastectomy. Critics argue that allowing embryos to be tested and discarded would pave the way for the “selection of designer babies” for purely social reasons.
By Mark Henderson
New plan may let couples pick baby who is free of some danger genes
http://127.0.0.1:1027/bug.cgi CLINICS could soon be screening embryos for genes that carry a predisposition to breast cancer and other tumours.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) announced yesterday that it is to consult the public about letting couples choose embryos free from genetic defects. The defects raise the risk of cancer but do not always trigger it.
NI_MPU(‘middle’);If the response is favourable, the authority is expected to start approving applications to use the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) technique early next year. It may even do so before the consultation is over if urgent licence requests are received.
Several British clinics are ready to offer the test to families with a history of certain cancers, and University College Hospital (UCH), London, has started asking breast cancer patients whether they would be interested in having it.
The review will intensify public debate over the ethics of PGD, used since the early 1990s to allow carriers of genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis to avoid passing them on. The procedure, which is licensed at ten centres in Britain, involves creating embryos by in-vitro fertilisation, then growing them to the eight-cell stage. One cell is removed and tested for genetic disease, and only unaffected embryos are implanted into the womb.
The authority has previously approved it only for genetic mutations that invariably lead to a disease that is untreatable or strikes in childhood.
Last year, The Times disclosed that the authority had set a precedent by granting UCH a licence to test embryos for a gene called FAP, which triggers bowel cancer when carriers reach their late teens or early twenties. Patients can substantially reduce their risk by having much of their colon removed.
The latest proposal is to allow clinics to screen embryos for genes that are not “fully penetrant”. The consultation, which will start in the autumn, will focus chiefly on the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which raise the risk of a woman contracting breast cancer to between 60 and 80 per cent.
Those who have either gene also have a 40 to 60 per cent chance of developing ovarian cancer. Many women who have one of the BRCA genes, however, do not contract cancer, and those who do generally remain healthy until their thirties. Those who know that they carry either can reduce their risk by 90 per cent by having a preventive mastectomy. Critics argue that allowing embryos to be tested and discarded would pave the way for the “selection of designer babies” for purely social reasons.
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The platform maybe similar, but you will NOT be abused here or publically humiliated,the mods are just and they will not allow uncharitable behavior to go on:clapping: And furhtermore if you have a complaint on a poster it is private and it dealt with privately.Thanks for coming over you will love it here.God Bless,Lisa
Meanwhile, why don’t you at least try to see what the Church teaches about homosexuality rather than what you want to believe the Church teaches about homosexuality.