In January 2009, media headlines in the British press heralded ‘Britain’s first cancer-free baby’. This is a misconception — there is no certainty that this baby will be cancer free all its life. Nevertheless, it brings hope that one day hereditary cancers may be a thing of the past.
The baby was the first in the UK to be screened for an inherited mutation of the BRCA1 gene. Inheriting this mutant gene gives women an 80% chance of developing breast cancer and a 60% chance of developing ovarian cancer at some point in their lives. The baby is the first to be born as a result of embryo screening for the purpose of reducing, not eliminating, the risk of inheriting a genetic disorder.
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