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 Message Boards » » unnatural selection? Page [1]  
FykalJpn
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Quote :
"A woman from London will give birth next week to the first British baby screened to be free of an altered gene which causes breast cancer.

Women in three generations of her husband's family have been diagnosed with the disease in their 20s.

Without the embryo screening, any daughter born would have a 50-80% chance of experiencing breast cancer.

But one expert warned the technique would not be suitable for all couples with this disease in their family.

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves taking a cell from an embryo at the eight-cell stage of development, when it is around three-days old, and testing it.

Using PGD to ensure a baby does not carry an altered gene which would guarantee a baby would inherit a disease such as cystic fibrosis, is well-established.

But in 2006, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said doctors could test for so-called susceptibility genes, such as BRCA1.

Carrying the BRCA1 mutation in this family's case would have given up to an 80% chance of developing breast cancer later in life.

BRCA1 and a related altered gene, BRCA2, account for around 5% of breast cancers.

Many women who discover they have inherited one of the gene mutations choose to have a double mastectomy to remove their breasts.

In this case, the 27-year-old woman and her husband, who are being treated by fertility expert Paul Serhal at University College Hospital London, do not yet know if they are having a girl or a boy.

The couple, who wish to remain anonymous, want to eradicate the gene flaw from their family. The husband's grandmother, mother, sister and a cousin have been diagnosed with the disease.

While a daughter could have been affected by breast cancer herself if she carried the altered gene, a son could have been a carrier and passed it on to any daughters.

Mr Serhal said: "The whole objective of this exercise is not just to make sure the child doesn't have the gene, but to stop the transmission from generation to generation."

He said it was "an exciting new era," adding that it would be possible to screen for any mutated gene which had been linked to a specific cancer."


http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7792318.stm

i wonder if this would placate the anti-GM folks--if not the pro-life camp...

12/20/2008 9:25:18 AM

AndyMac
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Yeah, I'm sure people who develop breast cancer in their old age wish their parents would have just aborted them.

12/20/2008 9:34:50 AM

Aficionado
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yeah because we cant detect nor treat cancer

12/20/2008 9:36:46 AM

FykalJpn
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i don't consider 20s to be old age

[Edited on December 20, 2008 at 9:39 AM. Reason : but consider if a whole generation did this; you would essentially eradicate one form of cancer]

12/20/2008 9:37:44 AM

Aficionado
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while that would be great, without dat 190% assurance that this gene being flipped off has no other ill effects i dont know if it is a good idea



[Edited on December 20, 2008 at 9:48 AM. Reason :

12/20/2008 9:45:05 AM

Arab13
Art Vandelay
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breast cancer typically is a later adult disease and not one that culls population before breeding age.

breast cancer has a very minimal effect in NS terms

i'm prolife and i don't have a problem with this

[Edited on December 20, 2008 at 11:38 AM. Reason : kl]

12/20/2008 11:37:44 AM

LimpyNuts
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I am entirely against this unnatural selection thing.

12/20/2008 12:23:43 PM

wdprice3
BinaryBuffonary
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I don't really have a problem with it, but I haven't kept up with it really. some one educate.

1/9/2009 8:35:33 AM

jethromoore
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survival of the richest

1/9/2009 8:40:57 AM

sumfoo1
soup du hier
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This baby will die young of unnatural causes

1/9/2009 8:47:01 AM

ScHpEnXeL
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gene selective breeding can now ensue

[Edited on January 9, 2009 at 8:48 AM. Reason : asdf]

1/9/2009 8:48:09 AM

FykalJpn
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i'm in the process of having genetic profiling, i'll let you know how it goes

1/10/2009 1:48:33 AM

TenaciousC
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I don't have a problem with it.

1/10/2009 2:19:45 AM

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