When a couple is expecting a child, there are many exciting
questions leading up to the birth. What sex will the child be? Who will the
baby look like? Will the child be healthy? How about musical, sporty, and/or intelligent?
Back in 2007, I wrote a blog called Designer
Lifestyles and Genetic Engineering that discussed the possibility of being
able to create "designer babies". Now, almost a year and a half later, the
topic is back in the news.
The Fertility Institutes, an organization based in New York City, Los Angeles,
and Mexico,
is claiming that it will be able to do more than help couples choose the gender
of their child. The parents-to-be can select hair and eye color, too. The
Institutes claims that this service is made possible by using an existing
procedure called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis or PGD.
The Fertility Institutes aims to begin offering this service
in as soon as six-months.
What is Pre-Implantation
Genetic Diagnosis?
PGD allows scientists to look for potential genetic diseases
and chromosomal problems in embryos before these embryos are implanted in women
via in-vitro fertilization (IVF). Typically, a couple would use PGD if a
genetic disease or disorder runs in the family, or to know whether to expect
complications during the pregnancy.
Because PGD can be performed only on in-vitro embryos, the
woman will take hormones to speed egg production. Women usually produce only one
fertilizable egg a month, but the hormones can stimulate the ovaries to produce
between 10-15 eggs. Doctors then remove the eggs and fertilize them by
injecting sperm into the egg with a needle.
Once fertilized, the egg is left to grow for two days.
During this time, the egg divides into eight identical cells that are removed
by a doctor and tested for whichever disease or disorder the couple is
concerned about. Once embryos are determined to be "good", they are implanted
in the uterus to grow - unless the parents are considering gender selection.
PGD and Gender
Selection
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis can be used for more than
testing for health threats in an embryo. PGD can also be used to determine the
gender of the unborn child. Some people choose to determine the sex of their
child for "family balancing" purposes. In other words, they already have
x-number of one sex, and would therefore like a member of the opposite sex.
According to the Fertility Institutes' website, PGD has a
sex selection accuracy rate of greater than 99.9%. To determine the sex,
fertility specialists separate sperm so that only sperm carrying the chromosome
of the desired gender (X for female, Y for male) are exposed to the female egg.
The embryo is then screened to determine if it will result in the desired
genetic outcome before being implanted into the woman's uterus.
The idea of using PGD for procedures that are not medical
necessities is outrageous to many. In addition to religious objections, some
people feel that choosing a sex or "family balancing" is blatantly unethical.
But what if you could choose more than gender – what if you
could pick cosmetic features like eye and hair color? What if you could know if
your baby would be a super-athlete or an artist? These are topics we will
discuss next week in Part 2 of this series.
Resources:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=designer-babies-preimplantation-genetic-diagnosis-pgd
http://cr4.globalspec.com/blogentry/3054/Designer-Lifestyles-and-Genetic-Engineering
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29496350/
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29478274/
http://www.fertility-docs.com/
http://www.fertilityproregistry.com/content/pgd_sex_selection.asp
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