Current legislation on preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) in Germany is out of step with the attitudes of Germans and should be changed, researchers told a news briefing at the 20th annual meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology on Monday 28 June).
At present PGD is forbidden in Germany, but in one of the first large study of attitudes to PGD amongst the general population and infertile couples in Germany, the researchers found that the majority of Germans think the technique should be permitted.
Dr Ada Borkenhagen, a psychologist and researcher at Charité Berlin, together with colleagues at the Berlin Fertility Centre and the universities of Leipzig and Marburg, found that 97% of 200 infertile couples and 80% of 2,110 members of the general population thought that PGD should be a permitted procedure for detecting genetic diseases in embryos.
However, there was little difference between the proportion of the general population that was against the use of PGD for screening for sex selection and other, non-disease-related reasons (97%), and the proportion amongst the infertile couples (99%). This pattern was repeated for the issue of reproductive cloning, which remains an unacceptable procedure for both groups, with 83% of the general population and 90% of infertile couples against it. Only 7% of the general population and 1% of the infertile couples were in favour of legalising this procedure.
The study showed that the potential demand for PGD was higher among infertile couples than amongst the general population; 83% of infertile couples said they would want to use PGD if it was found that they needed it, compared to 57% of the general population.
Dr Borkenhagen told the meeting: “Our study demonstrates a demand for PGD in Germany. A large proportion of the general population, as well as infertile couples, think that it would be better to carry out PGD rather than prenatal diagnosis during pregnancy. This is because prenatal diagnosis carries a risk of miscarriage, and, in addition, if a problem is detected in the foetus, the woman is faced with the difficult decision of terminating the pregnancy or giving birth to a baby with a genetic disease such as cystic fibrosis or Down’s Syndrome.
“The vast majority of the infertile couples that we surveyed wanted a change in the present German Embryo Protection Law, and the legalisation of PGD when the application is related to detecting a genetic disease. As a result of the current prohibition of PGD, a certain amount of ‘PGD tourism’ is taking place, with infertile German couples going abroad to places such as Spain for PGD. In addition, the system of funding for infertility treatment in Germany has changed recently, and couples now have to pay more for IVF. This means they are more reluctant to undertake the risks involved in prenatal diagnosis, and it has created an even greater demand for PGD.”