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The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA)has said that embryos should be tested for disease-carrying genes.

The UK fertility watchdog has recommended stricter testing to allow diseases including cancer to be picked up at early stages. Embryos would be scanned for genes linked to cancer.

Currently embryos are screened for inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis.

The recommendations will be discussed by the HFEA at a public meeting in Belfast today, before gaining final approval.
Three particular genes - BRCA1, BRCA2 and HNPCC all cause cancer later in life - usually when people are in their thirties or forties.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 are linked to an 80% risk of breast cancer and a 40% risk of ovarian cancer. Mutations in the HNPCC gene are linked to an 80% risk of colon cancer.

Carrying these genes puts a person at an increased risk of developing the disease.

Screening and treatment are available for the conditions.
The HFEA issues licences permitting fertility clinics to use an embryo screening technique - pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).

Ten clinics currently use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to test for inherited conditions.

PGD is already permitted for two inherited cancer conditions which affect young adults and children - familial adematous polyposis (FAP), a type of bowel cancer, and cancer of the retina.

The recommendations advocate extending the use of PGD for cancer genes - as they are also a serious genetic condition.
The HFEA launched a public consultation on the issue in November 2005.

Representatives of several organisations have expressed concern over the recommendations including Comment on Reproductive Ethics, Disability Awareness in Action, and Dr Richard Kennedy, former chair of the British Fertility Society. Concerns stem around the possibility of increased screening leading to selective reproduction.

Healthcare Public Law expert Muiris Lyons, who represents Natallie Evans in the frozen embryo litigation said:

"The opportunity to screen created embryos for potentially fatal conditions before they are used in costly, time-consuming and emotionally draining fertility treatment will be viewed by most patients undergoing IVF as a welcome development. But it is something that needs to be carefully considered."

"Concerns about selective reproduction are understandable. The HFEA and individual fertility clinics will have a significant role to play in ensuring that the use of this technology is closely and carefully regulated."

"While new legislation governing fertility treatment is under consideration it is a matter for the HFEA to ensure that as the science of fertility treatment develops, its use in clinical practice continues to reflect the views of the majority of our society as to what is acceptable and what is not."

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