Extending the application of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to screen embryos for non-medical traits such as gender, height and intelligence, raises serious moral, legal, and social issues. In this paper I consider the possibility of using PGD to select the sexual orientation of offspring. After considering five potential objections, I conclude that parents should be permitted to use P...

Professor Robertson sketches an elegant framework for policy evaluation and regulation of the use of preimplantation genetic diagnosis for various medical, medical related, and non-medical purposes. In criticism of his position, I argue that the distinction between policy and ethics upon which his argument relies is highly unstable, and the approach taken to ethical evaluation of particular par...

The role of membrane sterols in the compaction and subsequent development of the preimplantation mouse embryo was studied by incubating embryos in 7-ketocholesterol and other oxygenated sterols. These sterols have been shown to inhibit sterol synthesis and deplete membranes of cholesterol in a variety of other cell types. Compaction and subsequent blastocyst formation were normal when embryos w...

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves testing for specific genetic conditions prior to the implantation [5] of an embryo in the uterine wall. This form of genetic screening has been made possible by the growth of in-vitro fertilization [6] (IVF) technology, which allows for the early stages of development to occur in a laboratory dish rather than in vivo [7]. The purpose of PGD is to...

Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves testing for specific genetic conditions prior to the implantation [5] of an embryo in the uterine wall. This form of genetic screening has been made possible by the growth of in-vitro fertilization [6] (IVF) technology, which allows for the early stages of development to occur in a laboratory dish rather than in vivo [7]. The purpose of PGD is to...

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Preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves testing for specific genetic conditions prior to the implantation [5] of an embryo in the uterine wall. This form of genetic screening has been made possible by the growth of in-vitro fertilization [6] (IVF) technology, which allows for the early stages of development to occur in a laboratory dish rather than in vivo [7]. The purpose of PGD is to...

In Denmark, preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) is offered within the public healthcare to families with a known risk of an inherited disease in a child - as an alternative to prenatal diagnosis. It is a well-established technique with rather well-described perinatal- and neonatal outcomes, being comparable to what is seen following in vitro fertilization/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (I...