A fertility clinic affiliated with Keio University in Tokyo wants to genetically screen embryos conceived for a couple by in vitro methods for signs of muscular dystrophy, clinic officials said Tuesday.
The clinic, operating under Keio School of Medicine, filed a request with the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology for permission to conduct preimplantation genetic screening and destroy any embryos with the hereditary illness.
The society has limited such screening permission to serious genetic disorders because it gives doctors the right to kill unborn children.
Though Nagoya City University has filed a similar request, the society has not permitted screenings of this kind.
The request submitted by the Keio University clinic, headed by Yasunori Yoshimura, concerns a case in which the woman was found to be carrying a gene leading to muscular dystrophy. The latter affliction sees muscles weaken and atrophy.
The woman is only a carrier of the gene. If her child is male, there is a 50 percent likelihood of him developing the illness. If the child is female, the chances will be smaller but she will still act as a carrier.
Preimplantation genetic screening is usually requested by prospective parents who are concerned about passing an incurable hereditary disease or disorder on to their child.