A bouncing baby boy made national headlines this week, nine months after the embryo he came from was selected from others that may have held a genetic disease.

Isleworth GP Mandy Baum and her husband Philip did not want their youngest child to be born with tuberous sclerosis (TSC), a genetic condition where tumours can grow in any organ of the body.

Their six-year-old son, Joe, has the condition and is autistic, epileptic, has learning disabilities and is unable to speak as a result of tumours that grow in the brain.

The couple were told the baby would have a 50-50 chance of having tuberous sclerosis, so Dr Baum consulted British experts to see if her IVF embryos could be screened.

The discovery of the genes that causing tuberous sclerosis has made embryo screening possible and new rulings by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority should make it a more common procedure.

However, Dr Baum was told by British experts that the screening would take too long. Eventually Dr Baum, 39, found a hospital in Belgium that would carry out the screening. Baby Samuel's birth is the world's first to come from the screening of embryos for tuberous sclerosis.

This week Dr Baum said she was "snowed under" with attention from the press and has asked someone to help her with enquiries.

Her press representative said it is an uphill struggle to secure funding for medical research for TSC, as it is a comparatively rare condition.

Locally-based scientist, Tom Blaney said the screening of embryos is the "gentler end" of eugenics, the science that deals with improving hereditary qualities of a race or breed. Now retired, the former National Physical Laboratory scientist is writing a book about the history of eugenics.

Dr Blaney said: "People who are from a gene pool that has been separated in some sort of way, or deselected from a gene pool - trying to avoid bringing to birth an embryo that stands a more than average chance of carrying a severe disability - that is eugenics".

Dr Baum hopes this week will raise awareness for the condition and is encouraging people to donate money to Tuberous Sclerosis Association by visiting www.tuberous-sclerosis.org.

With early diagnosis, some TSC symptoms can be treated and even prevented but the condition is so complex that until the cause can be treated, people continue to suffer a range of distressing symptoms.