Miss-Delectable
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First Bill talk looks at ‘deaf baby ban’ - icWales
THE first public debate to examine one of the most controversial Bills currently passing through the UK Houses of Parliament will be held next month.
Deaf kids: Who decides? will investigate the implications of proposals to make it illegal for parents undergoing embryo screening to choose an embryo with an abnormality if healthy embryos exist.
Clause 14(4)(9) has been added to the Bill to prevent the selection of embryos with the genes for deafness.
The Bill will replace the current Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
The clause says that in assisted reproduction, embryos known to be at risk of developing “serious physical or mental disability” or “serious illness” must not be preferred to embryos where there is no such risk.
But is deafness considered a “serious disability”? In the official explanatory notes to the Bill, and also during proceedings in the House of Lords, it has been defined as such.
The debate, to be held in Cardiff on April 9, will bring together lay deaf and hearing people, with leading academics in the field of genetics, medical ethics, sign language, and deaf studies to discuss deafness and embryo selection.
Chaired by Graham Turner, chair of interpreting and translation studies at Heriot-Watt University, other speakers include Dr Anna Middleton, a consultant research genetic counsellor at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, who is conducting research on deaf individuals’ understanding and perceptions of genetics and their needs from genetic counselling service, and Dr Steve Emery, a British Sign Language research associate at Heriot-Watt, and Dr Colin Gavaghan, lecturer in medical law and ethics at the University of Glasgow.
Dr Middleton said, “Clause 14 has promoted fierce debate, with critics arguing that it impedes reproductive liberty and undermines reproductive confidence.”
The debate, at Techniquest, has been organised by Cardiff University’s Wales Gene Park in partnership with the Progress Educational Trust.
To book a place, contact Claudine at Cardiff University on andersoncn @cf.ac.uk or 029 2047 5475.
THE first public debate to examine one of the most controversial Bills currently passing through the UK Houses of Parliament will be held next month.
Deaf kids: Who decides? will investigate the implications of proposals to make it illegal for parents undergoing embryo screening to choose an embryo with an abnormality if healthy embryos exist.
Clause 14(4)(9) has been added to the Bill to prevent the selection of embryos with the genes for deafness.
The Bill will replace the current Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
The clause says that in assisted reproduction, embryos known to be at risk of developing “serious physical or mental disability” or “serious illness” must not be preferred to embryos where there is no such risk.
But is deafness considered a “serious disability”? In the official explanatory notes to the Bill, and also during proceedings in the House of Lords, it has been defined as such.
The debate, to be held in Cardiff on April 9, will bring together lay deaf and hearing people, with leading academics in the field of genetics, medical ethics, sign language, and deaf studies to discuss deafness and embryo selection.
Chaired by Graham Turner, chair of interpreting and translation studies at Heriot-Watt University, other speakers include Dr Anna Middleton, a consultant research genetic counsellor at Cardiff University’s School of Medicine, who is conducting research on deaf individuals’ understanding and perceptions of genetics and their needs from genetic counselling service, and Dr Steve Emery, a British Sign Language research associate at Heriot-Watt, and Dr Colin Gavaghan, lecturer in medical law and ethics at the University of Glasgow.
Dr Middleton said, “Clause 14 has promoted fierce debate, with critics arguing that it impedes reproductive liberty and undermines reproductive confidence.”
The debate, at Techniquest, has been organised by Cardiff University’s Wales Gene Park in partnership with the Progress Educational Trust.
To book a place, contact Claudine at Cardiff University on andersoncn @cf.ac.uk or 029 2047 5475.