'Embryo destroyed' stories came from nowhere

Newspaper stories claiming that fertility regulators in the UK have allowed embryos to be destroyed for 'minor disorders' are unrelated to decisions taken at a recent regulatory meeting. Stories last week said the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had allowed doctors to routinely screen out more than 100 genetic disorders using PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis). But, according to HFEA sources, the list of genetic disorders approved for PGD...[Read More]

The case for case-by-case regulation of PGD: a response to Dr David King

The Genetic Interest Group (GIG) welcomed the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)’s review of the case-by-case approach to the licensing of PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) for late-onset conditions and for tissue typing of embryos to produce a 'saviour sibling'. I attended the HFEA's consultation event at which Dr David King spoke on 1 December last year and heard his presentation. Then, as in the BioNews comment piece ...[Read More]

The case for case-by-case regulation of PGD

On 20 January, the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will decide whether to continue the case-by-case regulation of two types of PGD (preimplantation genetic diagnosis) applications: those for late onset conditions and tissue typing of embryos to produce a 'saviour sibling'....[Read More]

Film Festival Review: 'Eugenics: Science Fiction or Future Reality?'

The Edinburgh Filmhouse ran its fifth Biomedical Ethics Film Festival from 20-22 November 2009 in partnership with the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics (SHCB), the British Science Association and the ESRC Genomics Forum at Edinburgh University. Its theme was 'Eugenics: Science Fiction or Future Reality?' and its format was film showings followed by comments from a panel leading off a general discussion with the audience. The first day's major film was 'Homo Sapiens 1990', a documentary on ...[Read More]

Twin saviour siblings born in the UK

Twins born following IVF treatment to select embryos which would be a tissue match for their elder brother are thought to be the first incidence in the UK of multiple 'saviour siblings'. Out of just twelve licences granted by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authroity (HFEA) to permit families to create a saviour sibling, only this one has resulted in twins....[Read More]

Film review: My Sister's Keeper

'My Sister's Keeper' is based on a book by the author Jodi Picoult. The youngest daughter of the Fitzgerald family, Anna (Abigail Breslin), decides to sue her parents for the ‘medical emancipation’ of her own body. Having been conceived through IVF and the resulting embryo tissue typed to ensure it was a match for her sick existing sibling, Anna was born for the primary reason of keeping her older sister, Kate (Sofia Vassilieva), a leukaemia patient, alive....[Read More]