In Vitro Fertilisation Genetic Diagnosis

There are many ethical issues surrounding the use of In Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD) as many people from different backgrounds discuss wether the use of this technology is socially acceptable. PGD is used as an advantage for women having trouble with pregnancy but many people see the technology as having negative effects on natural reproduction. Through the IVF process there is an 80% fertilisatioin rate and popularity is increasing for PGD to be carried out. This poses ethical questions as the unused embryos are destroyed and discarded.

IVF is a reproductive technology where an egg is removed from a woman and joined with a sperm cell, from a man, in a test tube. The cells fuse to form a single cell

To carry out the biological process of PGD and embryo is created via IVF. When the embryo is at the 6-10 cell stage, one or two cells are removed (usually the third day after fertalisation). These cells are tested for particular chromosomal abnormalities or genetic conditions. If the embryos are unaffected then they are then transferred back into a woman’s uterus and hopefully a pregnancy will result. PGD can test for single gene disorders eg. Cistic Fibrosis and Huntington’s disease. PGD can also test for sex-linked genetic disorders eg. Haemophilia or Fragile-X syndrome. These disorders occur when the gene involved is located on the X or Y chromosomes. Sex-linked genetic disorders affect males and females differently because females have two X chromosomes while males have one X and one Y. For example, the female has another copy of the X chromosomes which can compensate for the faulty one, while the male only has one copy of the gene. PGD can also be used for tissue typing which selects embryos with a specific Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) profile. This is used when an existing sibling is in need of a donor tissue due to a genetic condition, which can be provided by a sibling who is a tissue match. The embryo is implanted into the mother’s uterus which creates a child whose tissue is used to help their sibling. Potentially PGD could be used for more than is currently permitted and this is

It offers people at high risk of passing on a serious genetic condition to their children an alternative to their existing options of avoiding conception, attempted natural conception (with the known risk to the health of the future child), pregnancy termination if the fetus is found to be affected by the condition following prenatal diagnosis, or using donated gametes or embryos in an attempt to conceive an unaffected child. Termination following prenatal diagnosis is often less preferable or unacceptable because of ethical concerns around beliefs about the moral status of the fetus, emotional trauma following a much desired pregnancy, or health risks associated with possible repeated terminations. Prenatal diagnosis, which is an alternative to PGD, involves genetic testing at the fetal stage rather than the embryo stage and with this option pregnancy has already occurred and termination is usually the only option for an affected baby to be avoided if the fetus has any genetic defect. However, the genetic testing occurs much earlier with PGD and embryos are yet to be implnted in the uterus, which therefore avoids the need for a termination. PGD has many advantages over other