AssistedConception.org

As the public is to be asked whether screening of embryos should be widened, two women whose sons were born with incurable diseases share their views with BBC Breakfast.
One of them, Melanie Denning, is currently undergoing embryo screening for cystic fibrosis, after her son Owen, five, was born with the hereditary disease.

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The public is to be asked if embryo screening should be extended to check for faulty genes which are not guaranteed to cause disease.
Embryos are now screened for inherited diseases such as cystic fibrosis. But the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is asking if embryos should also be checked for genes linked to cancer and Alzheimer’s.

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People seeking fertility treatment will face fewer and faster checks to make sure they will be suitable parents under new guidelines.

Legally, clinics have to assess the welfare of any child born via fertility treatment before providing services.
Doctors and patients have argued the current UK guidance, which is 14 years old, is cumbersome and bureaucratic.

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Scientists have found the gene responsible for controlling a first key step in the creation of new life. The HIRA gene is involved in the events necessary for the fertilisation that take place once a sperm enters an egg. Faults in this gene might explain why some couples struggle to get pregnant despite having healthy sperm, say the researchers from the UK and France.

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