Green light for selected baby

Zain Hashmi is a three-year-old little boy from northern England with big brown eyes and a fatal disease, beta thalassaemia major. As his bone marrow is unable to produce sufficient numbers of red blood cells, he needs regular transfusions and is unlikely to survive for long unless transplanted with suitable stem cells. These could come from the bone marrow of a donor with matching tissue type, but neither in his family of seven nor in the national donors databases could a match be found. They could also come from the umbilical cord of a sibling yet to be conceived, if the baby has the matching tissue type. As Zain's parents have got five children already and feel that time is running out for trying the natural way, they applied for permission to use in vitro fertilization (IVF) combined with pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to make sure that their sixth child will not only be free of the disease, but also have the stem cells that can save Zain's life. In Britain, sensitive bioethical issues like this one are decided by the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (www.hfea.gov.uk) chaired by Ruth Deech of Oxford University. Britain is one of the leading countries in developing controls on new embryo research. The HFEA is responsible for licensing any research and any breaches constitute a criminal offence. In the US, for example, controls on federal funding for embryo research are in place, but private companies funding their own work are entirely without regulation. Decisions by the HFEA therefore carry more weight than might otherwise be the case. And on December 13th last year, the HFEA ruled that in principle PGD may be used to create a life-saving sibling for a seriously ill child, but that a licence committee would have to approve every case individually on its merits, following a set of very stringent conditions. Ruth Deech said: " Where PGD is already being undertaken, we can see how the use of tissue typing to save the life of a sibling could be justified. We would see this happening only in very rare circumstances and under strict controls. " These include that all other possibilities have been exhausted, and that the parents receive counselling on the ethical implications. The authority strictly ruled out similar procedures if the tissue were to benefit one of the parents. Apart from the knee-jerk reaction of the anti-abortionist group …