Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis occurs BEFORE conception?

The first baby in the UK tested before conception for a genetic form of breast cancer has been born.

Considering that pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) takes a single cell from a newly formed embryo for genetic testing, I am wondering how that is even possible.  PGD tests 3 day-old embryos to be exact.  That means 3 days AFTER sperm has met egg.  So how can PGD take place before conception?  Well if you change the definition of conception, then it is possible:

Pre-implantation genetic diagnosis (PGD) involves taking a cell from an embryo at the eight-cell stage of development, when it is around three-days old, and testing it.

This is before conception - defined as when the embryo is implanted in the womb.

So the nearly half a million human embryos that are sitting in the deep freeze have yet to be conceived?  What utter rubbish!  Conception is when sperm penetrates egg, implantation is when the resulting embryos implants in the womb.

Once again society is being mislead and numbed by language that has no meaning.  If the BBC were to acknowledge that PGD occurs after conception then maybe some of us would actually put 2 and 2 together to make 4 and decide that they are very uncomfortable with this technology.  Especially when we realize that all of the post conception embryos that failed the genetic test got tossed in the biohazard waste.

I am wondering where is the outcry from scientists and doctors?  How can they sit back and let a media outlet tell us the 2 plus 2 equals 5?  Probably because it is good for business.  No doubt the BBC definition of conception was given to them by a fertility doctor.  I am reminded of this quote from Lee M. Silver, professor of biology at Princeton, from his book Remaking Eden.  Dr. Silver discusses the use of the term "pre-embryo" (meaning an embryo that has yet to be implanted):

I’ll let you in on a little secret.  The term pre-embryo has been embraced wholeheartedly by IVF practitioners for reasons that are political, not scientific…. The term pre-embryo is useful in the political arena—where decisions are made about whether to allow early embryo (now called pre-embryo) experimentation—as well as in the confines of a doctor’s office where it can be used to allay moral concerns that might be expressed by IVF patients.

I am disturbed to my core at the redefinition of scientific terminology to fit a political or social agenda.  From human cloning to IVF, there must be a secret memo circulating that says, "never call an embryo an embryo or else the public might just wise up."

Hat Tip: Wesley J. Smith