‘Designer’ babies

The remaining hurdle to the creation of babies specifically to save the life of an ailing brother or sister was removed in Britain last month by the fertility regulatory body to the delight of afflicted families and alarm of those who fear the advent of a 'designer' baby age. The decision of the UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority gives new hope to the parents of a two-year-old boy with a potentially fatal blood disorder who want to select a baby who will be a tissue match for their son. But doctors and regulators insisted that strict controls and decisions taken on a case-by-case basis will continue to prevent the selection of babies for their hair or eye colour or their intelligence, should that ever become possible. The boy, Joshua Fletcher, from Northern Ireland, suffers from Diamond Blackfan anaemia, which can only be cured by a bone marrow transplant. His parents have not been able to find a tissue match. They asked the HFEA for permission to have their embryos, to be created in a fertility lab, tested in the hope of finding a sibling who can be a donor. The baby's umbilical cord blood would be used for a transplant. The full 18-member HFEA decided in a landmark decision to change the rules so that tissue-matching tests could be carried out on embryos even though they are not directly in the interest of the future baby, but would only benefit the sick sibling. The authority concluded that research had shown the tests, although invasive, did no harm to the embryo and were acceptable if they might save a child's life. Fertility doctors lined up to welcome the decision. " The often-used term 'designer baby' is misleading here — we are not talking about engineering a child to have a certain hair colour or aesthetic characteristic. This is about families being able to make a decision that their new baby could save the life of its older brother or sister, " said Alison Murdoch, chairman of the British Fertility Society. " These are difficult, distressing and complex real-life situations… it is important that the views and interests of the patient are always put first. " The full 18-member HFEA decided in a landmark decision to change the rules so that tissue-matching tests could be carried out on embryos even though they are not directly in the interest of the baby …