There are no specific “social, ethical or legal” reasons why couples cannot undergo pre-pregnancy genetic screening on the NHS to determine if they are at risk of passing on diseases, according to a new report.
The Human Genetics Commission gave the green light to preconception genetic tests to determine whether people carry conditions that could be passed on to their future children.
The HGC developed the guidance following a request for advice from the UK National Screening Committee.
The UK committee will now decide whether widespread screening should be introduced in places such as GP surgeries, family planning centres, IVF clinics and pharmacies.
Diseases such as cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease can develop in youngsters if both parents are carriers of the genetic condition.
At the moment, only people with a known risk of inherited disease, or those with access to local programmes, can get the tests.
Frances Flinter, chair of the working group which developed the report, said: “At the moment, preconception genetic testing only occurs if an individual knows they are at risk of carrying a genetic condition or they belong to a community which has set up a local screening programme. “This means many individuals or couples do not discover that they carry a genetic condition until they are pregnant.
“A preconception test rather than a test during pregnancy or after a child is born will ensure greater patient choice and access to information that will help support people who are planning to have children.
“There is variable and inconsistent access to these tests in the UK.
“We believe there are no specific social, ethical or legal principles that prevent preconception genetic testing in population screening programmes, which would help ensure fairer access to these tests.”
The report recommends preconception genetic testing is made available to “all those who may benefit from it”.
People should also be given advice so they can make informed choices about the reproductive options available to them.
Where antenatal testing is currently offered then, where technically feasible, preconception screening should also be offered, the report said.
Children and young people should also learn about antenatal and preconception screening in the final years of school.
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Genetic screening can be a powerful diagnostic tool in assessing an individual’s risk of conditions such as cystic fibrosis.
“But there are a number of considerations that are broader than the remit of this report which influence whether specific screening programmes should be established.
“The UK National Screening Committee will now consider the findings.”
Today’s report said that if screening for older schoolchildren and young people is introduced it would be essential to make sure they are not pressured into having the tests.
Couples found to be at risk of conceiving a baby with a genetic condition should be referred to experts in the condition and their options for pregnancy considered.
If genetic conditions are identified during the course of other screening tests, such as at birth, the results should be “provided to GPs and stored in a secure and accessible format so that the children have this information when they reach adulthood”, the report said.
Josephine Quintavalle, of the pro-life group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, welcomed the HGC’s “declared preference” for pre-conception testing over abortion but said the report was “far too deferential to genetic determinism”.
She said: “The public always reads these reports in terms of wonderful new cures and that is very worrying. “Killing the carrier of a genetic disease does not eradicate or cure the disease. It is simply a modern version of eugenics.”
The recommendations were strongly attacked by David King, director of the genetic watchdog group Human Genetics Alert, who claimed it opened the door to Brave New World-style eugenics.
He said: “This immensely dangerous report advocates the quickest route to a eugenics which has little difference from that seen in the early 20th century: A general trawl through the whole population to weed out all ‘bad genes’.”