Through eugenics:
Women with a family history of breast cancer will now be able to use IVF to prevent their children suffering from the disease, the fertility watchdog has announced.Unborn embryos that do not meet the genetic criteria, having a higher probability of developing cancer later in life, will be killed. Apparently this is seen as a compassionate way to end potential suffering.The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority said IVF clinics would be licensed to carry out tests on artificially fertilised embryos to see if they carry genes that cause the disease.
Update - This person, quoted by the Telegraph, provides a powerful testimony on this issue:
Kerry Andrew is 26. Two years ago she found out that she is a BRCA 1 carrier. This meant she had an 80 per cent chance of developing breast cancer and a 40 per cent chance of ovarian cancer"My mother developed breast cancer when she was 28, and my grandmother was diagnosed at 32.
When I found out that I carried the gene, I felt that the only option for me was a double preventive mastectomy, which I had two years ago this July. It was a huge decision, but I knew it was the right choice. My chance of developing breast cancer is now five per cent.
"Despite the difficulty I've faced as a carrier of the gene, I instinctively feel that embryo screening isn't the right way to go. It seems like such an all or nothing approach. If my mother had decided to have the screening and pick an embryo without the gene,
I wouldn't be here. It is a devastating disease, but breast cancer is part of my life, it isn't my whole life.
"Screening implies that having the gene is the end of the world, when in fact we're the lucky ones; we can identify the risk and take measures to reduce it.
We've already seen how the new age of bioethics has failed disabled people. How many more have to die before we understand that this is plain wrong?