Catholic Church sees dilemmas in screening of embryos

Embryo screening presents society with a number of dilemmas, including the elimination of "unwanted" or "imperfect" embryos, says a Catholic Church spokesman.

Couples at high risk of having children with serious genetic disorders will be able to have Government-funded embryo screening within six months.

Health Minister Pete Hodgson said the Government expected to spend nearly $500,00 a year on pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, known as PGD. Each procedure costs about $12,000.

Couples whose children would be in danger of disorders such as haemophilia, cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease will be funded through their district health board to have PGD.

The Church's bioethical issues spokesman, Dr Michael McCabe, said every parent hoped to have healthy children, but not every means of achieving this was acceptable.

"By itself, the elimination of disease and suffering is inadequate for judging the ethical and moral acceptability of PGD," Dr McCabe said.

"In fact, its use presents society with a number of dilemmas, not least the elimination of so-called unwanted or imperfect embryos."

Dr McCabe said the Church encouraged funding for medical research that sought to overcome various genetically inheritable diseases.

The only justifiable intervention on an embryo was one which was undertaken for the health of the fetus, he said.

Overseas, the technology has been used to create designer babies of the "right" sex for purely social reasons - a use of the procedure which is not allowed under New Zealand law.

The process involves two cells being taken out of each fertilised embryo for PGD testing.

Only normal embryos are implanted in the woman's uterus.

PGD can also be used to detect chromosome disorders linked to maternal age, such as Down syndrome, but this will not be state-funded.

What is PGD?

* Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, known as PGD, includes in vitro fertilisation (IVF) and costs about $12,000.

* About 150 cycles of PGD/IVF are expected to be carried out each year, of which 40 would be state-funded, to detect serious inheritable genetic disorders.

* Overseas, the technology has been used to create designer babies of the "right" sex for purely social reasons - a use of the procedure which is not allowed under New Zealand law.

* The process involves two cells being taken out of each fertilised embryo for genetic testing, and only normal embryos are implanted in the woman's uterus.

- NZPA