Blood test 'allows couples to screen out abnormalities'

Hundreds of prospective parents have already bought the test which tells them if a combination of their genes puts them at risk of having a child with an incurable disease.

The compatibility test, which costs £1,800, checks for 4,500 mutations and can flag up more than 600 hereditary diseases, including some that kill within the first years of life. Results come back within 30 days.

If couples are told they are at risk of having an ill child they can decide whether to adopt, have IVF treatment or go ahead and get pregnant naturally.

Spanish firm iGenomix, which developed the test, says pre-pregnancy genetic screening could soon become as commonplace as ultrasound scans and cut the number of children born with diseases like muscular dystrophy from one in 25 to one in 100,000.

But critics claim it could create a society where those who a rich enough can screen out ill health, while poorer people are left with disabled children, who are then stigmatised.

The NHS does pre-pregnancy testing but focuses on people with a family history of just a few conditions.

The new test is now available at Randox Health clinics in London and Northern Ireland and hundreds of Britons have already signed up although it is not known if anyone has yet used that information to select embryos.

A recent study by iGenomix found that 8 per cent of couples were "clinically incompatible", meaning both had the same faulty DNA. Such couples would be told there was a one in four chance of their child being ill and counselled on their options.

These include an IVF technique, in which only healthy embryos are implanted in the womb, the use of donor eggs or sperm or adoption. Some women may opt to get pregnant naturally and abort later.

Dr Jenny Dobbs, a fertility consultant at Randox Health, said couples who had undergone the test in the UK so far included both those thinking about trying to conceive naturally as well as those considering fertility treatment.

She said the majority of the couples who had chosen to undergo the test "simply wanted to take as much precaution as possible", and were looking for "peace of mind".

"I have had experience of people who have had their test and their results have been good, so they've got peace of mind," she said.

But not all of those undergoing the test have had been so lucky.

(telegraph.co.uk)