article_snippet: A blood test that screens couples for thousands of genetic flaws which they could pass on to a baby is to go on sale.
article_snippet: A blood test that screens couples for thousands of genetic flaws which they could pass on to a baby is to go on sale can flag up more than 600 conditions, including some that kill within the first years of life.
article_snippet: The company’s test is designed to give peace of mind, but at £1,800 per couple – £900 per person –
article_snippet: The company’s test doesn’t come cheap.
article_snippet: The NHS does pre-pregnancy testing but focuses on people with a family history of just a few conditions.
article_snippet: The new test, which will be available at Randox Health clinics in London and Northern Ireland from May, checks for thousands of faulty pieces of DNA.
article_snippet: Dr Peter FitzGerald, managing director of Randox Health, said: ‘Our wide-ranging new screen will detect potential problems before pregnancy by obtaining information from both parents.
article_snippet: With the test, we can alert prospective parents to the risk of serious genetic conditions.
article_snippet: There is another pre-pregnancy test available privately but another pre-pregnancy test available checks for only 100 diseases.
article_snippet: Philippa Taylor, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said the limited and expensive options available to couples who ‘fail’ another pre-pregnancy test available could push Philippa Taylor, of the Christian Medical Fellowship toward getting pregnant naturally – and aborting if the baby is unhealthy.
article_snippet: Philippa Taylor, of the Christian Medical Fellowship added: ‘another pre-pregnancy test available is going to create further anxiety through the over-medicalisation of pregnancy.
article_snippet: We need regulation and ethical debate before such tests are introduced.