Looking to stir up a conservative medical establishment, several couples desperate to have children have joined two doctors in a lawsuit that seeks expanded use of a test that critics say could be exploited to create perfect babies.

Currently, the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology allows the test, called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD), only in cases of possible severe genetic disorders. Applications to use PGD must be filed with the society for approval. The society has yet to approve a single case.

Tetsuo Otani, who heads the Otani Women's Clinic in Kobe, along with five couples, filed the suit with the Tokyo District Court on Wednesday against the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology and four current and past officers. Another doctor, Yahiro Nezu, of Nagano Prefecture, is also listed as a plaintiff. He was expelled from the society for using in vitro fertilization to help a woman become the nation's first surrogate mother.

Otani was evicted from the society in April after admitting to the unauthorized implementation of PGD on three patients.

The group claims the society's strict limitations on the use of PGD infringe on their right to select medical procedures and to bear children. They are seeking both to overturn the society's guidelines and claim 77 million yen in compensation.

PGD use was first reported in the early 1990s in Britain and the United States. It was initially designed to help people with a family history of a genetic disease and avoid transmitting it to their babies.

Embryos created through in vitro fertilization are tested prior to their transfer to the uterus.

However, there are major ethical issues involved in PGD since parents could use the technique to conceive what they consider a ``perfect baby.''

On top of that, it is not an easy process. Women experience discomfort when eggs are extracted and the fertilization procedure has just a 20-30 percent success rate.

Because of PGD's short history, experts have yet to discover the long-term effects of cell extraction at such an early stage in life.

The government's Council for Science and Technology Policy on May 12 held off making a decision on whether to allow PGD. That means the Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology's guidelines represent the only standards in use in Japan.

One of the plaintiffs, a woman in her 30s, has suffered repeated miscarriages.

``My right to have a healthy baby is being taken away,'' she said. ``Would I be inconveniencing anyone if I used the procedure?''

The United States is especially advanced in the use of PGD as a way of treating infertility. By checking chromosomes related to miscarriage, doctors can select and transfer fertilized eggs that are less prone to miscarriage. Women, therefore, suffer less -both physically and psychologically.

The advances in reproductive medicine overseas have led several couples to go abroad to conceive, and have children who will not suffer from genetic disorders.

However, members of the Council for Science and Technology Policy have raised questions about whether Japan is ready for such advances.

In one study group, a participant pointed out that while prenatal diagnosis allows parents to choose whether to carry the baby to term, that decision is coupled with anguish. PGD eliminates the need for such a decision.

However, that raised the question if it is society's role to remove such anguish.

The Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology is planning a public symposium in June on PGD that will include patients and citizens groups.

Ryuichi Ida, a law professor at Kyoto University specializing in medical ethics, noted that Japan and the United States have different value systems.

``Unlike the United States where people are free to do what they want as long as they are not bothering others, in Japan there is still strong opinion on only allowing people to act in ways that do not go against Japanese values,'' Ida said.

``As technology advances, there will be a need for limitations on technology that would eliminate life.''(IHT/Asahi: May 28,2004) (05/28)