THE MOST ACCURATE IVF GENETIC SCREENING YET
Scientists in Melbourne have created a Pre-Implanation Genetic (PGS) test that is 99 per cent accurate, picking up the widest array of what they called genetic defects in an Australian first.
Embryos can be screened for a range of genetic conditions, including Down Syndrome, Huntington’s disease and spinal muscular atrophy, before pregnancy.
Monash IVF geneticist and PGS coordinator Dr Elissa Osborne said ideal candidates for screening would be older women, couples who have suffered multiple miscarriages, couples who have experienced repeat IVF failure, and known carriers of specific gene disorders, such as cystic fibrosis.
Not only that but testing for chromosomal abnormalities could pick up whether the issues arose from the egg or the sperm, where old methods could not.
The ideas have drawn criticism from some who claimed it was edging too close to playing ‘God’ and treated children who had conditions like Downs Syndrome as if they were less than equal.
What do you think?
1. Did you catch the Gordon Wood interview on 60 Minutes? He was convicted of murdering his girlfriend Caroline Byrne and making it look like a suicide almost 17 years ago in Sydney. But this year he was acquitted of the charges, on appeal, and walked free from jail. Now he told all. News.com.au reported:
Two days before her death, Caroline had sought medical help and was due to see a psychiatrist on the day she died.
“She only told me of her depression in a day or two before she committed suicide and I’ve reproached myself for maybe not being sensitive enough at the time of it,” Mr Wood said.
“I had no idea it was as serious as it was.”
2. Hey, Jason Segel was too fat too! A Universal studio exec told him he had to lose weight for his latest film ‘A Five Year Engagement’ because audiences needed some reason to believe Emily Blunt would fall for him. Head. Desk.
3. Britain’s Ministry of Defence is considering placing surface-to-air missiles on top of local residents’ flats as part of security for this year’s Olympics. Residents received leaflets from the MoD letting them know ‘higher velocity missile systems’ could be placed on their roofs. Fun for the whole family.
4. It’s not just a teen thing. Adolescence, scientists have reminded us, lasts until ‘at least the age of 24’ when the brain stops maturing. That means young pups are still higher risk takers and in a state of upheaval until basically their mid 20s. But parents already knew that right?
5. Should the age of criminal consent (in New South Wales) be raised to 16? It’s currently at 10 years of age across the country. It all comes back to that age old argument: how much are children able to actually distinguish right from wrong and should they be held criminally accountable earlier?
6. Up to 10,000 people people with disabilities, carers and friends will rally across Australia today to ensure no political party baulks at the National Disability Insurance Scheme. No party has yet guaranteed it, although Federal Labor has started the first stages of devising the multi-billion dollar scheme.
Top Comments
I think you have completely missed the point with your question regarding IVF Mamamia. Obviously you have never suffered the agonising journey of infertility and your also ignorant to the suffering of people in this area and the complete ineffectiveness of IVF as a solution for infertility. The motivation behind Monash Uni's breakthrough was not to stamp out various genetic problems but to assist people with infertility. Massive, massive, huge difference.
The debate should be about why this technology is so expensive and limited to Victoria and what can be done to remove the barriers to infertile couples who are decent people who would make wonderful mums and dads out there.
Wow, this feels so close to me. My boyfriend has a history of bowel cancer in his family (grandfather/father/sister) and as of last year, they isolated the gene and were able to test him for it. Unfortunately, we found out that he is a carrier. The technical name is lynch syndrome, a genetic defect that greatly increases his chances of getting bowel cancer. Currently, he's sitting at about an 80% chance of getting it at some point. Crap odds.
I was there when we found out, and the genetic counsellor spoke to us about our options for conceiving. Any naturally conceived baby would have a 50/50 chance of being born with lynch syndrome which means, male or female, a lifetime of yearly colonoscopies and a pretty good shot at getting bowel cancer.
Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, as discussed above, can now isolate the gene within an embryo and implant only the non-defective gene. It took my partner about .5 seconds to decide that this is what we would do. And so, I give up on my romantic, pre-conceived idea of how you make a baby, and accept that it will now happen in a dish in some sterile lab. That's ok with me. I never looked at this from a selective gene perspective, or that my partner (or potentially our baby) would ever be 'less than equal'. I just looked at this as the path we have to go down to get the healthiest possible baby, and as my partner put it, 'stop this bastard in its tracks' (the bastard being bowel cancer).
He has watched his pop, dad and sister (diagnosed at 16) go through it and if science has offered us a way to eradicate it, we're going to take it. Why wouldn't we?