Appeal Court decides to allow Hashmi family to use PGD with tissue typing 10/4/03. By the Public Health Genetics Unit Appeal Court decision overturns an earlier ruling by the High Court.

In a surprise early statement, Appeal Court Judges on 8 April announced their decision that the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) does have the power to grant permission for a UK couple to use preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select an embryo that would be both unaffected by the genetic disease beta-thalassaemia, and a tissue match for an existing sibling who is affected by the disease.

The Appeal Court decision overturns an earlier ruling by the High Court, which accepted arguments by counsel for the campaigning group Comment on Reproductive Ethics that the HFEA had acted beyond its statutory powers and was effectively sanctioning the production of 'designer babies'. The Appeal Court judges will release their full judgment at a later date.

The couple, Raj and Shahana Hashmi, now plan to resume treatment as soon as possible, in the hope of having a healthy child whose cord blood would be a source of stem cells to treat their four-year-old son Zain.

The HFEA has welcomed the Appeal Court decision, stressing that all applications to use PGD for this purpose will be assessed on an individual basis. The HFEA has already refused permission for another couple to use the procedure to select an embryo that would be a tissue match for an existing child, because in that case the procedure was not being used to avoid giving birth to a child with a serious genetic disease.

Article courtesy of the Public Health Genetics Unit .