London: A British woman has become the first in the country to conceive a child whose chances of inheriting a hereditary form of eye cancer has been eliminated using a controversial scientific method.
The woman, who did not wish to be identified, and her husband sought the aid of the genetic-screening technology PGD to ensure that the retinoblastoma, which she suffered from, was not passed on to her child, The Times reported.
The eye cancer retinoblastoma, caused by an inherited mutation in a gene called RB1, affects about one in every 15,000 children.
Prentes have a 50 per cent chance of passing it on to their children.
Although the couple had no feritility problems, they opted for IVF, which allowed testing of embryos that carried cancer cells using pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) and transfer of only unaffected embryos to her womb.
"We are talking about annihilating this abnormal gene from the whole family line. We do this often, but it is always
extraordinary when it comes off," an elated University College Hospital, London official, Paul Serhal, who treated the couple said.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) had relaxed rules earlier this week to scan embryos for genetically inherited disorders.
PGD has also been used in various cases in the US, The Times said.
Critics have raised eyebrows at the technique saying the action to eliminate embryos is unethical because it involves the destruction of some embryos that will never contract these illnesses if allowed to develop into children.
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