HFEA seeks opinions on extending embryo screening 16/8/05. By the Public Health Genetics Unit The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is seeking public opinions on whether the HFEA should extend its options for embryo screening.

At present, screening is available for parents with a family history of several serious conditions, such as cystic fibrosis or Huntington's disease. Ten fertility clinics in the UK are licensed to test embryos. Through the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), a woman's embryos can be screened for the gene for the condition in question. Embryos free of the disease are chosen and reimplanted, thus avoiding passing on the faulty gene.

Now, as more genes are being linked to the incidence of other diseases, such as various cancers, the HFEA expects more requests for embryo screening. For example, last year the HFEA licensed a clinic at University College London to screen for familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). FAP has been linked to some bowel cancers.

The HFEA notes that their policy team has been reviewing this issue, aware that screening can now be done for inherited breast cancer, inherited ovarian cancer and hereditary non polyposis colon cancer, amongst others cancers. But those who inherit these gene variants might never go on to suffer from the disease, as these conditions are not 'fully penetrant'. This has raised ethical questions.

In order to inform their policy decisions, the HFEA is asking the public their views about the acceptability of extending embryo screening to diseases that a person might develop in later life or might not develop at all.

The HFEA will be holding a public discussion on this issue in late autumn. Further details will be posted on the HFEA website.

Article courtesy of the Public Health Genetics Unit .