PGD... what the media is calling designer babies

Designer Babies. Catchy, interesting, mind-blowing are some of the first words that came to my mind when I learned that babies characteristics and features could be genetically altered. A super baby. However, I soon learned that the real name of my topic was not Designer Babies, or Super Baby or anything like that, it was actually PGD- Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis. PGD is nothing like designing exactly what you want your baby to look like. PGD is used for couples who have diseases that could be passed down to their child, they aren’t trying to pick what color eyes he/she is going to have, they are trying to make sure that their baby doesn’t come into the world with a serious disease.

Once an embryo has 8 cells, one or two cells are removed with micromanipulation technique. Through genetic analysis, parents will know whether or not the embryo has specific disease-producing mutations. If the embryo contains cells that show that the baby will have a disease, the parents may choose to terminate the pregnancy and try again.

Pictures of an Embryo Biopsy

Sex-linked disorders, single gene defects, and chromosomal disorders are the main groups of diseases; people suffering from these diseases should use PGD when trying for a baby in order to ensure their baby won’t be born with their illness. For example, people suffering from serious illnesses such as cystic fibrosis, Huntington disease, Tay-Sachs disease, Rett syndrome, sickle cell anemia, use PGD with IVF- In vitro fertilization in order to ensure that their child won’t be born with their illness. Furthermore, PGD can also ensure children won’t be born with Down Syndrome, mental retardation, muscular dystrophy, Gaucher’s disease, and more.

PGS- Preimplantation genetic screening, is when an embryo from a supposed normal couple is checked to make sure that the child won’t have any diseases, disorders, syndromes, etc. PGS can lead to termination of pregnancy. Older women who are trying to have a baby, couples with history of recurrent pregnancy loss, couples with repeated IVF failure, or for mothers who partner suffer with severe male factor infertility should use PGS. The older woman get, the more likely they are to have a child with Down syndrome. PGS is viewed as immoral, because it can determine the sex of the baby, which can lead to termination if it’s the unfavorable sex.

Graph of "Frequency of Down Syndrome Per Maternal Age"

The Reproductive Genetics Institute uses Polar Body analysis & Embryo analysis for PGD. PGD is very expensive, and can cost thousands of dollars, however can also help prevent the spread of disease onto the next generation. 

Sex Selection Program Video  (video on web site)

The DNA sequence of the extracted cells of the embryo allows doctors to see if the embryo has a specific disease. This is extremely helpful for couples that have a history of disease. However, PGD with IVF can be used to determine the sex of a baby. Sex selection using PGD with IVF can be extremely expensive, costing in some cases around twenty thousand dollars. Many people use this method in order to have almost a 100% guarantee of the sex of their baby. In recent years however, sex selection using PGD with IVF is beginning to be looked upon as immoral and unethical. One of the developers of PGD, Dr. Mark Hughes, doesn’t like that PGD is being used for sex selection, and that PGD was supposed to be used in order to prevent diseases from passing from parent to child.

News Article: China grapples with legacy of its 'missing girls' 

Sex selection has become a highly debated topic because of its unethical use. The use of cheap sex selection equipment in countries such as China has resulted in an unbalanced sex ratio. Population expert Professor Chu Junhong said, "Prenatal sex selection was probably the primary cause, if not the sole cause, for the continuous rise of the sex ratio at birth." In 2002- 300/820 women had abortions in a central China village. More than 1/3 of them said they were trying to select their baby’s sex. Another statistic shows that in 1999, more than 70% of abortions were female. The huge amount of abortions of girls in China has resulted in only seven of the twenty-nine provinces of China are within the world’s average sex ratio.

 (^^statistics from the article)

Web Sources:

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/273415-overview

http://www.infertile.com/infertility-treatments/pgd.htm

http://www.actionbioscience.org/biotech/agar.html

http://www.reproductivegenetics.com/pgd.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5953508/ns/world_news/

http://www.fertility-docs.com/fertility_gender.phtml

Picture Sources:

Graph- http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/273415-overview

Embryo Biopsy- http://www.hfi-ivf.com/html/pgd.html