PHG Foundation | www.phgfoundation.org
The UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which regulates assisted reproduction technology that involves the use of donor gametes or in vitro fertilisation, has launched a consultation on sex selection in human reproduction. At present, the HFEA has the power to regulate the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) for sex selection, and the current position is that PGD for this purpose is only permitted in order to avoid the birth of a child with a serious sex-linked genetic disease. A recent application to use PGD for “family balancing” by a couple with several sons but no living daughter was refused. Sex-selection techniques that involve only the sorting of sperm before conception are currently not regulated in the UK. This technology has to date been notoriously unreliable, but there are indications that its accuracy is improving and the HFEA has decided that the time is ripe to re-examine the issue of sex selection. The consultation, which runs until 22 January 2003, covers questions such as whether sperm sorting should come under the regulatory remit of the HFEA and, if so, in what circumstances it should be permitted. It also asks whether the use of PGD should continue to be allowed only for medical reasons or should also be permitted for family balancing or other non-medical reasons.