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PRENATAL TESTING
Some ethical key issues are yet to be addressed
A new prenatal test could reduce the expense of caring for those with Down’s Syndrome, says the UK Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Leading researcher Simon Baron-Cohen believes that significant obstacles, both scientific and ethical, remain before we can undertake prenatal testing for autism.
New genetic tests to screen unborn babies will not be 100% accurate and might worry parents into believing their child will be born with a disability when they are actually healthy, warns IVF expert and gadfly Lord Robert Winston.
Scientists are moving closer to a reliable, non-invasive pre-natal test for genetic disorders. In a study in the journal Science Translational Medicine, Jay Shendure, of the University of Washington, Seattle, pieced together a genetic profile of a foetus only 18.5 weeks after conception which was 98% accurate.
The latest research on life with Down syndrome paints a very positive picture. In a major feature in the American Journal of Medical Genetics, Dr Brian Skotko, of Children’s Hospital Boston, and colleagues report that “The overwhelming majority of parents surveyed report that they are happy with their decision to have their child with DS and indicate that their sons and daughters are great sources of love and pride”.
Hospitals could be forbidden from telling expectant mothers the sex of their unborn babies, following a ruling in Europe.
A new, highly accurate, blood test can determine a baby’s sex as early as 7 weeks into the pregnancy.
Maternal blood reveals foetal DNA
Developed by Israeli doctors
New policy dilemmas
Parents want compensation for distress and specialist care
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