[tt] The Times: Genetic MoT will detect disease in unborn child

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Genetic MoT will detect disease in unborn child
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article5004106.ece
October 24, 2008
[Thanks to Sarah for this.]

Mark Henderson, Science Editor

Prospective parents will be able to screen embryos for almost any
known genetic disease using a revolutionary "universal test"
developed by British scientists, The Times has learnt.

The £1,500 test, which should be available as early as next year,
will allow couples at risk of passing on gene defects to conceive
healthy children using IVF treatment. Unlike current tests it takes
just weeks from start to finish and is suitable for couples at risk
of almost any condition.

The "genetic MoT" will transform the range of inherited disorders
that can be detected in embryos and the speed and accuracy of such
tests. At present only 2 per cent of the 15,000 known genetic
conditions can be identified in this way.

It involves creating embryos by IVF and removing a single cell from
each when they are two days old. The cells are tested using a
technique known as karyomapping before a healthy embryo is
implanted.

However, the advance will deepen the ethical debate over the
creation of "designer babies" by widening the scope of such testing
greatly.

The test, developed at the Bridge Centre in London, can identify
multiple genetic variations, so that scientists could screen for
combinations that together confer higher risks of diabetes, heart
disease or cancer. Such applications would first have to be approved
by the regulator.

The test also has implications for genetic privacy. As well as
examining for mutations that cause serious disorders such as cystic
fibrosis, muscular dystrophy and Huntington's disease, it could also
reveal an embryo's future susceptibility to a host of other medical
conditions. Parents could thus be told about their embryo's future
risk of developing Alzheimer's disease, heart disease or breast
cancer. That would raise privacy issues by revealing sensitive
health information about children who could not give consent.

A further benefit would be to improve the chances of pregnancy for
those who are infertile by selecting embryos that stand the best
chance of developing normally.

Professor Alan Handyside, who has pioneered the technique, will
apply to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a
licence to use it. It will cost about £1,500, which is comparable to
existing screening, but the price is likely to fall as the
technology develops. "We are still validating it, but it is going to
be a revolution if it works out," Professor Handyside told The
Times. "It makes genetic screening very much more straightforward."

Technically, it would be possible to use the test to select an
embryo with a particular eye colour or to screen for multiple genes
known to affect height or weight. However, Alan Thornhill, the
scientific director of the Bridge Centre, said: "When you start
looking for more than two or three traits, you've just got no chance
of getting a match. You'd need thousands of embryos, and we don't
have a practical way of making thousands of embryos."

In addition, such applications would be blocked by the HFEA.

  * Have your say

While the 'leave it to nature' arguement is extremely valid, how do
you argue against such measures to a parent who has experienced the
mamouth area of uncertainty, fear, inadequate support and social
acceptance of a child with a serious disability? Bring on MoT I say.
Muriel, Perth, Australia

You've seen Gattica right? That's the end result of this: closet
eugenics. Wars will be fought over this issue in the future. I
suspect I'll be on the losing side.
Chris, Notts,

Nature [or god as you may prefer], has has the knack of dealing with
these things and be more often than not is right and more powerful.
So just do not interfere with nature and create a even bigger rod
for the man kind or loose humanity. Sooner or later the nature we
assert it's self
raj, harrow, uk