Family planning

摘要

Thinking of starting a family? There's now a screening service to enable you and your partner to check if you are carrying genes for serious genetic diseases.rnFor $349, Counsyl of Redwood City, California, runs genetic tests on saliva samples to see if prospective parents carry mutations that lie behind more than 100 inherited conditions.rnMany of the mutations involved are "recessive" variantsrnpassed on by both parents - and so can lie hidden in families for generations. Counsyl is working with fertility clinics so that couples at high risk can have IVF with pre-implantation screening to select healthy embryos.