Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
3
embryo selection
Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis
she's a typical teenage girl, she loves to dance. . . . We never thought
she would live to see 15. . . . Adam knows he helped his sister, that's all.
They're normal kids.
—lisa nash, interview by Dan vergano for
USA Today
Prospective parenthood can be anxiety ridden when one or both partners
carry a genetic disorder in their DnA or advancing age puts children at risk
for genetic abnormalities. if possible, most persons would choose not to
bring a child into the world who has little or no chance of living to adult-
hood or whose life will be filled with suffering. Genetic counselors ex-
amine parents' ancestries and assess the risk for concerned parents. With
enough information, some parents opt to use donor eggs or sperm to avoid
inherited abnormalities. This chapter is not about that option. rather, it is
about a rather new option for genetically at-risk parents who embark upon
parenthood with their own eggs and sperm,
preimplantation genetic diagno-
sis (PGD).
PGD is technology that allows parents to assess the genetic health of em-
bryos generated by
in vitro fertilization (IVF)
(see fig. 2.3). A major advantage
of PGD over traditional diagnostic procedures like amniocentesis is that
genetic diagnosis occurs before embryos are ever in the womb. By select-
ing only genetically healthy embryos for implantation, prospective parents
greatly increase the odds of having a healthy baby. But PGD carries with it
several ethical issues. This chapter addresses the following questions about
PGD and the challenges it raises for human values:
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