A "genetic MoT" which would allow parents using IVF treatment to screen embryos for a wide range of genetic diseases, could be available as early as next year.

The test, costing £1500, aims to help people at risk of passing on genetic defects to conceive healthy children through IVF.

However, the advance is expected to deepen the ethical debate over the creation of "designer babies".

The test is reported to be able to detect almost any known genetic disease and involves testing a cell from a two-day-old IVF embryo using a technique called karyomapping. Currently only 2% of the 15,000 known genetic conditions can be detected in this way.

The test, which was developed at the Bridge Centre in London, can identify the genetic defects behind conditions such as muscular dystrophy, cystic fibrosis and Huntington's disease.

It could also enable scientists to screen unborn children for risks of developing heart disease, cancer and Alzheimer's in later life.

Professor Alan Handyside, who developed the technique, said that he was applying to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority for a licence for the technique.

"We are validating it, but it is going to be a revolution if it works out. It makes genetic screening much more straightforward," he said.

Theoretically, the test could even reveal information about eye colour, height and weight.

Similar advances in genetic testing have sparked concerns that some parents may use the technology to conceive "designer babies".

However Alan Thornhill, the scientific director of the Bridge Centre, insisted this would not happen in practice.

"When you start looking for more than two or three traits, you've just got no chance of getting a match," he said.

"You would need thousands of embryos, and we don't have a practical way of making thousands of embryos."

Dr Mark Hamilton, chairman of the British Fertility Society, called the possible effectiveness of the procedure "quite exciting", but added: "Obviously, the ethical question is, if you can screen for anything, where do you draw the line?"