( A survey conducted by the Genetics and ...)Fertility Clinics Allowing Parents To Select Gender,Health

A survey conducted by the Genetics and Public Policy Center (GPPC) says that fertility clinics in the US are allowing parents to choose their kids' gender by using// a method called preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). This was initially intended to allow embryos to be screened for deadly genetic diseases. The technique takes a cell from a 3-day-old embryo and screens for presence of chromosomal abnormalities. The survey found that 186 out of 415 fertility clinics in the US were performing procedures to identify presence of birth defects.

However, the survey also revealed that applications of PGD have broadened to include choosing the baby's sex, as well as screening for diseases that may not strike until late in life, if at all. Non-medical sex selection accounted for 9 per cent of PGD tests conducted in the US in 2005, while 28 per cent of the clinics surveyed are now offering PGD to detect a propensity for adult-onset diseases such as Alzheimer's, Huntington's, hereditary breast cancer, and many other cancers.

PGD was originally intended to overcome infertility and to ensure that all children are born with a chance of a full and flourishing life, says Eric Cohen, head of the bioethics programme at the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington DC. "PGD clinics are performing sex selection just to satisfy parental preferences, and embryo screening is being used for late-onset diseases that have nothing to do with childhood sickness," Cohen claims. He sees these as troubling trends.

The changes are taking place because there is little consensus on which tests are appropriate for PGD, and no federal or professional oversight of the clinics, according to Susannah Baruch, who led the GPPC study. "There are more than 1000 genetic tests currently available and there is no reason why any of these couldn't be used for PDG," she says.

In the UK, PGD is regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Its spok
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