The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, HFEA, is recommending that embryos should be screened for three specific genetic mutations that might one day lead to breast, ovarian and colon cancer. The genetic mutations are BRCA1 and BRCA2, which are linked to an increased risk of breast cancer, and the HNPCC gene, which is linked to a greater risk of colon cancer. Before we go any deeper, let me just point out that genetic mutations do not always lead to disease. Cancers are not that linear. The procedure for embryo screening is called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis, PGD, and is currently used to screen embryos for two inherited childhood cancers, familial adematous polyposis -- a type of colon cancer -- and cancer of the retina.

According to Dr Richard Kennedy, former chair of the British Fertility Society, "PGD may be become a more cost effective option for society and the health economy." From another perspective, Josephine Quintavalle, director of the group Comment on Reproductive Ethics, said: "PGD is currently nothing more than a weapon of destruction, aimed at the ruthless elimination of any embryo which does not conform to eugenic concepts of perfection." The technological advances we enjoy, and will continue to enjoy, carry profound ethical burden. The advances will eventually cure many diseases -- but will this be the way? It is a challenged arrival to the threshold of the door that defines who we are, and what it means to be human. I looked at my children. I thought about you and me. I wondered how many of us would be here today if genetic perfection was the measure in deciding life? Your thoughts and feelings?