Thom Graves Media
The ethical dimension of assisted reproduction cannot be divorced from the science, as was illustrated by two seemingly contradictory decisions by the United Kingdom's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority. The HFEA approved an application for use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for a couple that had an existing child with Fanconi anemia. They wished to conceive a second child, both free of the disease and HLA compatible with the first. Stem cells taken from umbilical cord blood could be used to treat the elder sibling.
Yet the HFEA rejected a similar application from a couple with a child who has diamond blackfan anemia. DBA presumably involves a sporadic mutation rather than a hereditary condition, and therefore, argued the HFEA, PGD could not ensure freedom from disease. In vitro fertilization pioneer Robert Edwards argues that under this reasoning, parents with such ill children might as well be banned ...
