New York Times Examines Debate Over Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 28 Nov 2005 - 0:00 PDT

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The New York Times on Tuesday examined the debate over preimplantation genetic diagnosis, a technique that allows doctors to identify embryos without genetic defects or chromosomal abnormalities and then implant the embryos most likely to result in a live, healthy infant. PGD is an "increasingly popular way to ensure a healthy pregnancy" for women who have experienced several miscarriages or who are undergoing in vitro fertilization treatment, or for couples who are carriers of a genetic disorder, according to the Times. However, some experts "urge caution" when considering PGD because of a lack of data on the procedure's success and failure rates and long-term health risks for the resulting child, the Times reports. In addition, ethicists argue that PGD, which also allows couples to select the sex of their infant, could lead some to choose embryos based on characteristics such as intellect and physical strength, the Times reports. Although PGD does not eliminate the risk of miscarriage, preliminary data from labs conducting the procedure show that it leads to "sharply lower rates" of miscarriage, according to the Times. Couples also can use the procedure to select embryos with tissue types identical to those of a severely ill child for whom a perfect tissue match is their only possible treatment. Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, said that about two-thirds of the respondents in a 2004 survey of people who have used PGD approved of the procedure for tissue matching. She added that any potential risk should be weighed against the reason a family is undergoing the procedure. "In the case of a family who's facing a one in four or a one in two chance of having a child with fatal genetic disease, the context is quite different from those who want to pick the sex of a child," Hudson said (Tarkan, New York Times, 11/22).

New York Times

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