Creating ‘Designer babies’ to help their sick brother or sister get legal

In a unanimous decision, five Law Lords in the UK have ruled that families can legally create babies to help their sick brother or sister; the authority would come from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, UK.

This ruling is the result of an appeal by the Hashmi family, whose son who was born with thalassaemia major. The Hashmi’s say the only hope for their son, who is now six years old, is to create a child with the same tissue type.

Zain (the son) has to have regular transfusions plus loads of medications throughout the day. Thalassaemia major is s serious genetic disorder. Patients with thalassaemia major doe not produce enough red blood cells.
Doctors aim to take stem cells from the newborn’s umbilical cord and transplant them into Zain.

The boy’s parents, Raj and Shahana Hashmi, did go ahead with the controversial treatment to produce a sibling, hoping to have a baby with the same tissue type as their son Zain in order to treat his rare blood disorder.
Their attempt failed tragically when Shahana Hashmi, 38, suffered a miscarriage.

The case was taken to the Law Lords by a campaigning group, Comment on Reproductive Ethics (CORE), which argued that the whole concept of “designer babies” was against English law.

The Court judgement overturned a ban on the use of IVF fertility treatment to help save the life of a terminally-ill boy.

Set up under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, the authority has the power to issue licences to create or keep an embryo.
It granted a licence permitting the treatment in the Hashmi family’s case.

Mrs Hashmi was overjoyed with the new ruling, she said “It is nice to know that society has now embraced the technology to cure the sick and take away the pain. It has been a long and hard battle for all the family and we have finally heard the news we wanted to hear.”

‘Designer babies’ is a controversial subject throughout the world. Many scientists and doctors say it would cure many sick children. Some worry that this could be the beginning of more ominous things to come.

Thalassaemia is a disorder of the blood. Blood contains three types of cells, red cells which carry oxygen from the lungs to the tissues, white cells which act against infections and platelets which help blood to clot. In thalassaemia the white cells and platelets are normal, but the red cells are small and too few in number. It is a form of anaemia. As a result someone with a severe form of thalassaemia gets tired very easily, and needs blood transfusions to remain healthy.

Thalassaemia Major

There are many different types of thalassaemia and many different degrees of severity. The full name of the commonest form of severe thalassaemia is beta thalassaemia major, which affects boys and girls equally. Babies are well at birth, but as months go by they become pale and tired, feed poorly and fail to get on. Blood transfusions restore them to health by correcting the anaemia, but as the transfused red cells are used up, the anaemia returns. So children with thalassaemia major need a blood transfusion every few weeks.

If a child with thalassaemia major is not treated the liver and the spleen in the abdomen becomes very large and the abdomen swells. The heart does not work well. As the years go by, the bones grow abnormally, and the head and face develop a characteristic appearance in severe cases. There are many other complications. Many affected children die as babies, if they do not receive regular blood transfusion.

Testing for Thalassaemia

Anyone can be tested for thalassaemia at any time. Women will be offered the test along with all the routine tests in pregnancy. As thalassaemia is inherited, the result of the test will not change throughout a person’s life.

Treatment of Thalassaemia Major

Most children with thalassaemia major need blood transfusions every four to six weeks for the rest of their lives. With the regular transfusions, children grow normally, and are able to do all the things the other children do. Unfortunately blood contains iron which the body cannot get rid of naturally. The iron in the transfused cells builds up in the body. After ten or more years, this iron may cause complications which result in poor growth and development, liver and heart disease, and even death.

Thalassaemia cannot be cured by drugs, but may be cured by a bone marrow transplant. This is a painful and dangerous treatment, and the patients can die from complications. Bone marrow transplant is best done when a child is fairly young, before the iron build up. However to have a successful bone marrow transplant, there must be a suitable donor who is usually a brother or sister. Many children with thalassaemia cannot have a transplant because they do not have a donor.