discussion title:
PGD has it's good side too!
While eating my breakfast this morning I saw your piece on PGD (pre-implantation genetic diagnosis) & designer babies. It very much concerned me because I had MY PGD baby sitting next to me in her highchair eating her breakfast too. You talked about using PGD for gender determination and/or passing on genes of a certain eye color or hair color. I used PGD so that my daughter wouldn't have to grow up with the same disabling disease (Dystonia) that I have had for most of my life. PGD is not a brand new procedure, my daughter is 14 months old & I know of another PGD Baby that I believe is 4 now! PGD is a lifesaver for young couples, like my husband and I, who didn't want to pass along the gene that scientists have isolated which carries that disease. I just really wish that you had put more emphasis on the good that is being done through PGD & IVF. My husband and I were not given a choice in gender, eye color, hair color or any of those things. We were only given the piece of mind that doctors could tell us that they were 99% sure my husband & I would have a baby that was "Dystonia Free". Please let the public know that there is another side to this procedure, it is saving the lives of children so they too can grow up just like all the rest of us!
~Becky, Bloomington, IL
