Preimplantation genetic diagnosis: technological promise and ethical perils

Abstract

Objective: To describe the ethical issues inherent to the current and foreseeable uses of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).

Design: Review of ethical principles and their application to PGD.

Setting: Academic medical center.

Patient(s): None.

Intervention(s): None.

Main outcome measure(s): A discussion of the current ethical perils surrounding the use of PGD, and a prediction of future ethical quandaries that will arise from the use of this technology.

Result(s): Although PGD may be used to predict and prevent disease, it may also be used to determine nondisease traits. The ever-expanding ability of genetics to determine qualities of the preimplantation embryo continues to open up new ethical questions relating to the use of PGD for preimplantation diagnosis.

Conclusion(s): Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is a powerful technique with many positive applications. As with all such new technologies, care should be taken to ponder the ethical implications of its use before routinely accepting PGD as a tool in the reproductive armamentarium.