Embryo screening? Been there, done that, doctors say
July 2nd, 2008
From ABC News, more reaction to the story about the parents who used new technology to screen their embryos for one without the BRCA1 gene.
Dr. Sherman J. Silber, director of the Infertility Center of St. Louis at St. Luke’s Hospital, says doctors have been prescreening fertilized embryos since 1990, when people first started trying to avoid having children with cystic fibrosis.
A similar phenomenon has taken place, Silber noted, in families that have had autistic children and would like to avoid having another.
“For autism already in couples that have children, they’re requesting [pre-implantation diagnosis] with sex selection, because, obviously, it’s so much more common in boys than in girls,” Silber said. “There are couples that have had several children with autism … that have been requesting sex selection just to have only females.”
Earlier stories here and here.
(Photo from Infertility Center of St. Louis at St. Luke’s Hospital)
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on Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008 at 1:56 pm and is filed under abortion, autism, cancer, cystic fibrosis, families, prenatal diagnosis, selective termination.
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