UK clinic allowed to screen embryos for rare bowel cancer

Doctors in London have been given the go-ahead to screen embryos for a rare inherited form of bowel cancer after pressure from families affected by the condition.

The assisted conception unit at University College Hospital is the United Kingdom's first clinic to be granted a licence to perform pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select embryos that are free of the genetic mutation that leads to familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).

Four couples affected by the condition, and …