Choosing
baby's sex to be outlawed
This is London
7/11/06
Sex selection of babies for non-medical reasons is set to be outlawed
in the UK under Government plans for a shake-up of embryology
regulation.
Health Minister Caroline Flint told MPs she was minded to introduce a
"clear and specific ban" on the use of new techniques to choose one
gender of baby.
Allowing parents to pick sex for reasons such as "balancing" the
make-up of their family could be the start of a "slippery slope" to
designer babies, she warned.
But the ban would not prevent British people going abroad where such
practices were legal, she accepted.
Ms Flint also indicated that rules allowing fertility clinics to block
treatment for single women and lesbian couples could be scrapped.
Present regulations include the need for a father in considerations of
the future child's welfare - an element the Government considered
should go, she said.
The Minister said more detailed proposals would be unveiled later in
the year, probably over the summer.
Other measures set to be part of the reforms include new criteria on
what medical conditions embryos can be screened for.
At present preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is licensed to let
parents who carry genes for a serious condition - such as cystic
fibrosis and Huntington's disease - avoid passing the faulty gene on to
their children.
But it is now also possible to test embryos for some cancers caused by
a "lower penetrance" gene - meaning not everyone who inherits the
faulty gene will go on to develop the disease.
Giving evidence to the Commons science and technology committee, Ms
Flint also rejected calls for a review of the abortion time limit.
Professional bodies had presented no scientific evidence to back
demands for an inquiry into whether the present 24-week limit should be
shortened.
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