UK Babies 'designed' to be free of disease
Pastor Dale Morgan
UK Babies 'designed' to be free of disease
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By Richard Alleyne
Last Updated: 2:21am GMT 14/11/2006
Two babies have become the first in the world to be born after their
mother underwent a screening process pioneered in Britain to ensure that
they were clear of an inherited disease.
Freddie and Thomas Greenstreet's parents both carry genes that made it
likely that their children would be born with a rare form of cystic
fibrosis, a debilitating, inherited condition from which their first
daughter suffers.
But the new technique allows embryos to be screened and only the healthy
ones used for IVF. Screening has been used regularly in the past for
people having IVF but doctors at Guy's Hospital, London, have refined
the procedure so that a much wider number of inherited diseases can be
detected.
Using the technique — known as pre-implantation genetic haplotyping
(PGH) — doctors can develop tests for up to 6,000 conditions.
Catherine Greenstreet, 38, a physiotherapist from Chiswick, west London,
said: "The whole family is very excited about the arrival of Freddie and
Thomas. The odds of getting pregnant were lower having had the PGH than
with standard IVF but I didn't want to have normal IVF and then find I
was carrying a child with cystic fibrosis.
"It was so reassuring to know that we would not have to deal with it."
Mrs Greenstreet defended her decision to reject the imperfect embryos
and criticism that the technique would lead to "designer babies".
She said she and husband Jim, 41, did not want to repeat the experience
of caring for a seriously ill child.
"Unless you have lived with a child that has a terrible disability or
disease then you can't speak about it," she said. "Who can criticise you
for trying to get rid of horrible diseases? Why would you want to see
people suffer? When you have got these lovely healthy babies in your
arms it dampens all the pain we went through. They are designer babies
but they are designed for the good of mankind."
Mrs Greenstreet and her husband, who works in corporate finance, already
have five-year-old twins, William and Lizzie.
Lizzie has cystic fibrosis, which causes severe respiratory problems and
limits life expectancy.
William has not got the disease but may be carrying the faulty genes.
Opponents of genetic screening argue that disabled babies can have a
good quality of life and screening for any reason is the start of a
slippery slope towards parents choosing eye colour or other characteristics.
But having witnessed Lizzie's struggles, the Greenstreets decided to
have the treatment at Guy's Hospital.
PGH is the latest derivative of the preimplantation genetic diagnosis
(PGD) technique from which 100 couples have already benefited at the
hospital.
Alison Lashwood, a consultant nurse in genetics, said: "It is fantastic
to have helped so many couples who were carrying genes for serious
genetic disorders to have the babies they thought they could never have.
"We are very proud of this achievement and, as one of the biggest and
most advanced centres in Europe, we hope we can help many more couples
in the future."