WORLD> Europe
First genetically-selected baby has been born in UK
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-01-10 19:53

The first British baby genetically-selected to be born without the gene which causes breast cancer is "doing very well" in hospital.

Female relatives on the baby's paternal side have for many generations been blighted with breast cancer.

It was this legacy that prompted her parents to decide that they did not want their child to be born with the breast cancer gene, which would have given the little girl a 50-85 per cent chance of developing the disease.

In June the mother, then 27, told how she decided to undergo the screening process to select an embryo without the breast cancer gene. She said at the time: "We felt that, if there was a possibility of eliminating this for our children, then that was a route we had to go down."

The body, which licenses IVF clinics and embryo research, gave the go-ahead for the technique, known as re-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), after holding a public consultation.

Paul Serhal, medical director of the Assisted Conception Unit at University College, London, said: "This little girl will not face the spectre of developing this genetic form of breast cancer or ovarian cancer in her adult life.

"The parents will have been spared the risk of inflicting this disease on their daughter. The lasting legacy is the eradication of the transmission of this form of cancer that has blighted these families for generations."

PGD has already been used in the UK to free babies of inherited disorders such as cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease.

But breast cancer is different because it does not inevitably affect a child from birth and may or may not develop later in life. There is also a chance it can be cured, if caught early enough.

Cancer charities said the birth raises "complex" issues.

Dr Sarah Cant, policy manager at Breakthrough Breast Cancer, said: "The decision to screen embryos to see whether they have a faulty breast cancer gene is a complex and very personal issue.

"Women with a family history of breast cancer tell us that what might be right for one person may not be right for another.

"It's important for anyone affected to have appropriate information and support so they can make the right choice for them."