Give us a year, it'll get a lot weirder

This article from Drudge is an early example of the kind of stories that people will be talking furiously about in the future when the issues aren't so clear, ones where parents screen fetuses genetically for certain characteristics. From the London Times Online:

People with inherited forms of cancer have won the right to select embryos free from genes that might trigger the disease in future generations, The Times has learnt.

Four couples affected by a genetic form of bowel cancer will start the procedure by the end of the year, after the Government’s fertility watchdog allowed a London clinic to screen IVF embryos for the disorder.

One of the patients, a 35-year-old accountant from Bristol, said: “We are overjoyed to have been given this chance, not only to do as much as possible to make sure our children don’t have this gene, but to stop them from passing it on.”

The ruling by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority deepens the controversy over designer babies. It sets a precedent that will allow doctors to “cherry-pick” embryos for a much wider range of traits than at present. Applications to extend the procedure are expected within months.

"Selection" in this context seems perfectly decent and honorable, although I can't say the words "Government’s fertility watchdog" didn't put a chill down my spine. I do wonder how they test the fetus, and whether that in itself isn't a danger. Hmm.