Tests can be taken during pregnancy
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A clinic in London is to offer saliva tests to prospective parents to see if they are at risk of having a baby with a genetic disease.
The screening, which takes a saliva sample from both parents, is said to discover if the child would inherit a generic mutation, which could lead to cystic fibrosis, spinal muscular atrophy or sickle cell anaemia. Available at the Bridge Fertility Clinic, the test will cost £700 and require the couple to under-go counselling alongside it.
Alan Thornhill, from the Bridge clinic, said: “This is something couple can do to reduce their risk at a reasonable cost. These diseases are quite rare, but pretty horrible.”
Further tests can be taken during pregnancy, sperm donation or adoption to prevent births with genetic disorders. If results from tests show a probable risk, parents can choose to have IVF and screen their embryos to ensure they are healthy.
Criticism has come from medical professionals, who say it plays on parents’ fears.
But a spokesman from Consyl, who developed the test, said: “Couples have a fundamental right to know their carrier status and to make reproductive decisions on the basis of that status without outside interference.”
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