London - The first baby in Britain tested before conception
for a genetic form of breast cancer has been born in a hospital in
London, doctors said Friday.
The baby girl grew from an embryo screened to ensure that it did
not contain the faulty BRCA 1 gene, which passes the risk of breast
cancer down generations.
Any daughter born with the gene has an 80 per cent chance of
developing breast cancer. A son could have been a carrier and passed
the altered gene on to any daughters.
Doctors at University College London said the girl and her 27-year-
old mother, who wished to remain anonymous, were doing well following
the birth this week.
Announcing her birth, Paul Serhal, medical director of the Assisted
Conception Unit at the hospital, said: 'This little girl will not face
the spectre of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or
ovarian cancer in her adult life.'
'The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this
disease on their daughter. The lasting legacy is the eradication of
the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these
families for generations.'
He explained that women in three generations of the husband's
family had been diagnosed with the disease in their 20s.
The technique of pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves
taking a cell from an embryo when it is around three days old and
testing it.
The procedure is still relatively rare but has been used to screen
embryos for breast cancer in the US and in Belgium.
PGD has already been used in Britain to free babies of inherited
disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease.
Permission to carry out PGD for breast cancer had to be obtained
from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority watchdog by the
London clinic which performed the procedure.
Cancer research groups said Friday the birth raised 'complex'
issues, while ethical campaign groups warned of a 'slippery slope'
towards the creation of so-called designer babies.
'Underlying all this is eugenics,' said Josephine Quintavalle of
campaign group Comment on Reproductive Ethics.
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