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BFS responds to HFEA's 'saviour siblings' policy change
21st July 2004
The British Fertility Society is pleased that the HFEA has made
this important move forward#. Fertility doctors hope that this policy
review will remove the apparent inconsistencies between decisions
made for individual families that have caused so much confusion.
There have been significant developments in knowledge and medical
practice since the HFEAct was published in 1990. In today’s
IVF clinics we have the tools to ensure that we are helping to bring
a healthy child into the world, by checking that an embryo doesn’t
carry certain serious diseases. These same tools can help a family
have a child that could save the life of his or her seriously ill
older brother or sister. Some families now ask for our help in this
way.
Policy reviews enable strict regulation to be maintained in a changing
society, and ensures that in the UK these developments are used
responsibly to the benefit of patients and their families.
Chair of the BFS, Professor Alison Murdoch today urged:
‘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.’
‘These are difficult, distressing and complex real life situations
and the regulator does not take these policy decisions lightly.
Additionally the families and clinic staff involved discuss every
consequence of the procedures and their outcomes. This is the hardest
decision some families ever have to make.’
‘It is important that the views and interests of the patients
are always put first. Since it is their families that live with
the consequences of these decisions, it is right that their views
take priority.’
‘We support the consultation into reproductive choices that
is being undertaken by the Human Genetics Commission* as this will
clarify views about both preimplantation and postimplantation diagnosis.
Hopefully the views expressed here will be taken into account in
future policy decisions.’
NOTES
#Refers to HFEA press release ‘HFEA agrees to extend policy
on tissue typing’ on Wednesday 21 July 2004
*A nationwide public consultation on the genetic testing of embryos
and babies in the womb has been launched by the Human Genetics Commission.
http://www.hgc.gov.uk/choosingthefuture/index.htm
The British Fertility Society, founded in 1972, has grown alongside
the development of our speciality and now actively promotes the
sharing of knowledge, further education and raising standards of
practice. We are a national, multidisciplinary society of reproductive
medicine representing andrologists, counsellors, embryologists,
endocrinologists, nurses, and other professional groups working
in this field.
For more information: please contact the British Fertility Society press office
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