Embryo Screening

New Embryo Test:-

British fertility specialists have developed a whole new way to screen embryos for diseases. This means that instead of the previous approximate 200 diseases avaliable for screening, there is now the capabilty to test for almost 6000! This looks like it'll only be for those couples who are undergoing IVF but specialists can now test for inherited diseases for which the specific genetic mutation is not known. With this method, doctors are able to tell whether the baby is a carrier, if it's going to be healthy or not, or if the baby will have the affliction outright. This, however, does bring up the morality issues of discarding embryos because of screening and the results shown. Male embryos, which are often more likely to have a 'full blown' disease because they do not have the masking X-chromosome are being discarded completely if having such a disease is a possibility. Hope this had been enlightening and interesting! Here's a link if you want the whole article---> http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2006/jun/19/topstories3.genetics

See ya soon,
Siren.