Boston Globe Opinion Piece Considers Ethics Of Passing On Defective Genes Through Infertility Techniques

Main Category: Fertility
Also Included In: Genetics
Article Date: 11 Aug 2010 - 3:00 PDT


As the first generation of children born using the fertility technique intra-cytoplasmic sperm injection "enters adolescence, one side effect of the technology has become clear: it enables the passing down of genetic defects from parent to child," Sylvia Pagan Westphal writes in a Boston Globe opinion piece. ICSI, developed 18 years ago, "revolutionized the treatment of male infertility" by allowing a technician to inject sperm directly into an egg, thus enabling otherwise infertile men to conceive, Westphal explains. The technique is now used in more than half of in-vitro fertilization procedures in the U.S.

"It is becoming increasingly clear that there is a higher rate of genetic issues ... among infertile men and women," Westphal writes, adding that IVF and "ICSI children also harbor abnormalities in their chromosomes at a higher rate" than children conceived the conventional way. According to Westphal, "hundreds -- perhaps thousands -- of boys around the world are believed to have inherited the genetic error that caused their father's infertility," which will leave them with "severely impaired sperm production" and could prevent some boys from ever being able to produce sperm.

Unlike other medical techniques, which can be tested for efficacy and safety before they are employed, "fertility techniques, by design, can't be tested on the resulting babies until after they are born," Westphal continues, adding that "we've chosen as a society to carry out a big safety experiment on the first generation of children we've created with these methods." She suggests that all men be evaluated for chromosomal errors before agreeing to ICSI and that physicians perform simple blood tests to detect major chromosome abnormalities before using the technique. "A big part of the problem is that ICS makes having a baby so much easier that many fertility clinics are bypassing a thorough male checkup when the patient comes in," she writes.

"Questioning the appropriateness of a highly popular status quo is a hard thing to do -- hard for society, doctors and policymakers -- because we can all empathize with the deep and unwavering sorrow that comes from longing for a child and not being able to have one," Westphal states. However, "we owe it to the children who are born" to thoroughly consider whether it is ethical to knowingly pass on genetic abnormalities and whether "a couple's right to reproduce trump[s] that of their future children" (Westphal, Boston Globe, 8/8).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.nationalpartnership.org. You can view the entire Daily Women's Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery here. The Daily Women's Health Policy Report is a free service of the National Partnership for Women & Families.

© 2010 National Partnership for Women & Families. All rights reserved.

• Additional
• References
• Citations