Electronic tags for IVF embryos
Heidi Nicholl, Progress Educational Trust 17 July 2006 [BioNews, London] A trial is taking place to electronically tag IVF embryos to prevent mistakes in clinics such as implanting the wrong embryos or fertilising eggs with the wrong sperm. The current system in the UK relies on staff monitoring each other but there have been a number of high-profile cases involving clinic mix-ups, including those where children of a different race to the 'parents' have been born. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is expected to rule later this month that higher standards are needed to prevent mistakes happening and is monitoring the trial currently taking place at the Essex Fertility Centre. 'We want to tighten security so that errors aren't made by clinics', said an HFEA spokesman. 'We are looking at a number of electronic systems including the one at the Essex Fertility Centre and will be making proposals for change in the near future'. http://www.BioNews.org.uk [email protected] © Copyright 2008 Progress Educational Trust Reproduced from BioNews with permission, a web- and email-based source of news, information and comment on assisted reproduction and human genetics, published by Progress Educational Trust. |
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