'Designer' baby decision due

Zain, second right, and his family

A couple with a child who has a potentially fatal genetic disorder will discover on Friday if they can use IVF to create a sibling whose cells could cure him.

The Hashmi family, from Leeds, want to use genetics to create a child who would be a suitable bone marrow donor for their son Zain, who has a rare blood disorder thalassaemia and is likely to die without a transplant.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will meet on Friday to decide whether to give the go-ahead for the family to use a procedure known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) to select an embryo.

Zain Hashmi is seriously ill

The authority recently ruled that PGD could be used in the UK in this way, but permission would only be granted on a case by case basis.

Previously, PGD could only be used specifically to prevent a child being born with a serious genetic defect.

If the Hashmis get permission, it would be the first time a British couple has been allowed to use IVF to pick an embryo not only without the disorder, but to help an ailing older sibling.

Opponents say that the procedure would create a designer baby produced for spare parts.

They are also opposed to the discarding of embryos created during the process that are not suitable, although unused embryos are discarded after virtually every IVF cycle.

The Park Hospital's Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Nottinghamshire has agreed to help Raj and Shahana Hashmi, but cannot go ahead without HFEA approval.

No guarantee

Even if permission is given there is no guarantee of success.

Embryos conceived through IVF would be screened for their suitability.

A compatible embryo would then be implanted into Mrs Hashmi's womb.

Blood for the transfusion would then be taken from the baby's umbilical cord.

Dr Simon Fishel, from the Nottinghamshire clinic, told BBC News Online: "In this specific case I don't have any concerns. There is no doubt that whatever child resulted from this would be very much loved by the family."

There are four other children in the Hashmi family, but none have blood that is a match for Zain.

Molly Nash was saved by her brother's bone marrow

The family have said that if they do not get permission for the procedure, they will go to the US where the treatment is already available.

A British woman recently became the first in the country to give birth after undergoing PGD.

She travelled to Chicago for the procedure after deciding it offered the best chance of successful treatment for her four-year-old son who has leukaemia.

In a similar case in the United States, a family had a test-tube baby to provide bone marrow for their six-year-old daughter who suffers from Fanconi anaemia.

Molly Nash received cells from her brother Adam's umbilical cord to help her fight the inherited disease.

US case

The children's mother Lisa dismissed claims that her son was cynically created to help his sister.

She said: "You want to call him a designer baby because he will never have to go through the hospitalisations that his sister went through, then call him a designer baby.

"He was not born for spare parts, we did it so he would be healthy."

Thalassaemia is an inherited disorder affecting haemoglobin, the substance in the blood that carries oxygen to the tissues.

Children with thalassaemia cannot make enough haemoglobin, and their bone marrow cannot produce sufficient red blood cells.