August 18, 2013 ( PJ Saunders) - The Daily Telegraph this weekend reports on a new expert study which has raised fears that some clinics may be offering techniques that put the embryo at risk for their own profit.
The review, carried out by Dr Justin McCracken, the former head of the
Health Protection Agency, highlighted a new technique, known as
Pre-Implantation Genetic Screening (PGS), as one which is possibly being
offered inappropriately for commercial reasons.
For a fee, which can run into thousands of pounds, clinics can check
embryos created by a successful IVF cycle for certain genetic
abnormalities and only implant those that appear normal.
The process is becoming especially popular for older couples seeking
IVF, because embryos created from their sperm and eggs have a higher
chance of abnormalities. As it involves the removal of a cell from an
embryo (see picture) it carries some risk for the embryo being tested.
Dr McCracken said the jury was still out on whether PGS improves the
chances of having a baby and warned there is a risk of harm to the
foetus. He said it was vital that the regulator checks that clinics are
not simply recommending it to boost profits.
‘I understand that there is no clinical consensus regarding its efficacy, but there is a real risk to the embryo in carrying it out.’ (emphasis mine)
This is a somewhat curious statement. Dr McCracken seems (appropriately) concerned about the risk of damage to a few hundred embryos each year undergoing PGS.
But he is curiously silent (or perhaps unaware) that over three million embryos
have perished or been deliberately destroyed since 1990 as a result of
procedures made legal by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
Liberal Democrat Peer Lord Alton recently asked in parliament how many
embryos have been created in each year since the commencement of the
Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, and how many of these have
resulted in live births.
Figures given in reply by the Under-Secretary of State at the
Department of Health Earl Howe showed that 3,806,699 embryos have been
created since 1990. Between 1992 and 2006 a total of 122,043 live births
occurred according to figures from the HFEA given alongside his reply (see also here).
122,043 live births from 3,806,699 embryos represent a success rate of
3.21%. Or, to put it another way, 3,684,656 embryos never made it to
birth.
These figures make McCracken’s concern about PGS embryos alone look
like what Jesus called ‘straining a gnat whilst swallowing a camel’ (Matthew 23:23-24).
In a letter to the Telegraph, as yet unpublished, disability rights
advocate Ann Farmer has highlighted the fact that, in addition to the
vast wastage of embryos, some women have also died from complications of
infertility treatments such as OHSS. She comments:
‘The whole point of the infertility industry is to manufacture babies out of embryos… A car factory that managed to accumulate 3,684,656 surplus models between 1990 and 2012 and in addition killed some of its customers would surely have gone out of business long ago.’
In 1948 the World Medical Association adopted the Declaration of Geneva
which included the affirmation, ‘I will maintain the utmost respect for
human life from the time of conception, even against threat’.
Today’s doctors, it seems, take a contrary view.
If you agree with today’s doctors that early human life can be treated
as a disposable commodity then the figures that Lord Alton has uncovered
(not much short of the current population of New Zealand!) will
probably not bother you much at all.
But if, like me, you believe that they are special creations made in
God’s image, which should be granted respect, wonder, empathy and
protection you will no doubt be very concerned indeed.
