LET them choose boys! Or girls! That鈥檚 what parents in the UK should be free to do, according to a parliamentary committee. Its controversial report calls for a relaxation of the rules on the use of reproductive technologies and human embryo research.
The report recommends that parents on IVF programmes be allowed to use pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to select the sex of a second or later child for 鈥渇amily-balancing鈥� reasons. It is also unfair for IVF clinics to screen would-be parents to try to exclude child abusers, it says.
If accepted, the report鈥檚 recommendations would bring the UK more in line with the US, where decisions on the use of reproductive technology are largely left to individuals. And although human embryo research is a major political issue in the US, there are few restrictions on it there, other than a block on federal funding.
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The committee chairman, MP Ian Gibson, admits that the recommendations will not please everyone. 鈥淚鈥檓 sure George Bush would burn the report,鈥� he says.
Even some members of the committee may feel the same. Only half signed the report, and the dissenters made it clear that they think it too libertarian.
