Recent story from Sydney Morning Herald

[Adam Schembri]

Embryos screened for deafness - a quiet first for Australia
By Tom Noble
July 11 2003

A woman who, with her partner, carries a genetic cause for deafness, failed
to become pregnant after her IVF embryos were screened to guarantee a child
with perfect hearing.

The couple want to remain anonymous as screening for deafness is at the
heart of the medical ethics debate.

They produced seven embryos during the woman's IVF cycle. Each embryo was
tested: one had two affected genes (so would become deaf), five carried one
gene and one was all clear. The unaffected embryo was transferred into the
Melbourne woman but no pregnancy occurred. The other carrier embryos were
frozen and later transferred without success.

It is not known if the couple plan another IVF cycle.

The screening for mutations in the connexin 26 gene is the world's first
reported case of an embryonic deafness test, according to details unveiled
at the International Genetics Congress in Melbourne yesterday.

Non-syndromic deafness affects about one in 1000 children in the caucasian
population. The couple each had one affected gene, but because the condition
is recessive, neither was deaf. However, if they had a child, it had a one
in four chance of inheriting the affected gene from both parents and being
deaf.

The screening was authorised in September by Victoria's Infertility
Treatment Authority, which regulates the type of tests that can be made on
days-old embryos before they are implanted into the mother.

It said it regarded deafness as a medical condition, not a frivolous or
cosmetic use of the technology.

However, the green light to screen out embryos carrying two deafness genes
was attacked by ethicists who said it cleared the way to begin screening out
other unwanted characteristics.

The British Deaf Association said it opposed genetic screening both on an
established foetus or on eight-cell embryos produced through IVF.

More than 100 genetically-screened babies have been born in Australia since
testing began about five years ago and screening has boomed in the past two
years as genetic causes for a range of conditions have been identified.



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