From the (UK) Daily Mail and Telegraph:

A fertility clinic in London has been granted a license to carry out IVF embryo screening for a couple who fear their child could inherit early onset Alzheimer’s disease. The man has a history of the condition in his family.

… the technique has sparked controversy - with opponents claiming it will eventually lead to the creation of “designer babies”, where parents can choose eye and hair colour, athletic ability and intelligence.

Screening embryos for genes that predispose people to Alzheimer’s in particular is even more controversial than other diseases because it is regarded as an illness of age.

Even early onset Alzheimer’s does not affect patients until their forties and fifties.

Opponents also claim the process, called the pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), could lead to unaffected embryos being destroyed unnecessarily.

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 22nd, 2007 at 1:22 pm and is filed under alzheimer's, genetics, prenatal diagnosis. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.  Email This Post