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Updated: Aug 18, 2026
FISH for Pre-implantation Genetic Diagnosis
Published on: February 23, 2011
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis: technological promise and ethical perils
1Harvard Medical School, Department of Social Medicine, Division of Medical Ethics, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
Objective:
To describe the ethical issues inherent to the current and foreseeable uses of preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD).
Design:
Review of ethical principles and their application to PGD.
Setting:
Academic medical center.
Patient(S):
None.
Intervention(S):
None.
Main Outcome Measure(S):
A discussion of the current ethical perils surrounding the use of PGD, and a prediction of future ethical quandaries that will arise from the use of this technology.
Result(S):
Although PGD may be used to predict and prevent disease, it may also be used to determine nondisease traits. The ever-expanding ability of genetics to determine qualities of the preimplantation embryo continues to open up new ethical questions relating to the use of PGD for preimplantation diagnosis.
Conclusion(S):
Preimplantation genetic diagnosis is a powerful technique with many positive applications. As with all such new technologies, care should be taken to ponder the ethical implications of its use before routinely accepting PGD as a tool in the reproductive armamentarium.
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