Creepy: ethics and gene screening

Apparently IVF clinics now offer screening for breast cancer genes, so couples can opt to destroy any embryos that test positive.

IVF clinics are offering clients a service to allow them to "sift" embryos that carry breast cancer genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 using preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).While most couples use PGD procedures to eliminate the risk of inherited sex-linked and single gene diseases (such as cystic fibrosis), PGD for BRCA genes cannot remove the risk completely—because there is 10% background risk of breast cancer.

Moreover, breast and ovarian cancers usually have a late onset. Prevention and therapeutic options are constantly improving, so the chances of successful treatment and many years of healthy life are high.

Nor is breast cancer inevitable. A defective BRCA gene increases susceptibility to breast or ovarian cancer, but does not make the diseases inevitable. However, with female carriers of a mutation in either gene having a lifetime risk of 60-80% for breast cancer, and a risk of 30-60% (BRCA1) or 5-20% (BRCA2) for ovarian cancer, most doctors favor the procedure.

 In Australia, two leading IVF clinics in Melbourne told the Sydney Morning Herald that 10 couples had used the test to screen embryos since 2008. Using the test is said to double the cost of an IVF cycle from about $A3,500 to $7,000.