A Baby Has Three Genetic Parents
Three people contributed to the creation of a baby who was born in the U.K. thanks to genetic experimentation at the Newcastle Fertility Centre, a U.K.–based fertility organization.
“The first U.K. baby created with DNA from three people has been born after doctors performed a groundbreaking IVF procedure that aims to prevent children from inheriting incurable diseases,” Ian Sample, science editor for the Guardian, writes. (READ MORE: Biden’s Big Lie about Contraceptive and Abortion ‘Access’)
According to Sample, the mitochondrial donation treatment — otherwise known as MDT — extracts healthy mitochondrial cells from a donated egg and injects those cells into the fertilized egg, giving the latter 37 new genes.
“The work aimed to help women with mutated mitochondria to have babies without the risk of passing on genetic disorders,” Sample notes. “People inherit all their mitochondria from their mother, so harmful mutations in the ‘batteries’ [mitochondria] can affect all of the children a woman has.”
According to the United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation, the “parts of your body that need the most energy — heart, brain, muscles — are most affected by mitochondrial disease.”
The most common types of mitochondrial disease include Leigh syndrome, which causes nerve cells to die, and Kearns-Sayre syndrome, which could paralyze the eye muscles.
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However, in the Center for Genetics and Society’s Biopolitical Times, author Pete Shanks highlights the potential negative side effects of the treatment. (READ MORE: Dave Rubin and the Making of a Baby)
“This technology is controversial not only because of its significant safety issues but also because it is a cellular engineering process that is heritable through the maternal line,” Shanks writes. “That is why the National Academies 2016 report, Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Ethical, Social and Policy Considerations, recommended that only male embryos be transferred, at least initially, to avoid passing on edits to future generations.”
Furthermore, as Karen Weintraub points out in Scientific American, there is no guarantee that the treatment works.
“A paper published Wednesday in Nature shows that such diseases can come back to sicken a child, even when 99 percent of the mother’s own mitochondria are eliminated,” Weintraub writes. “But the new laboratory study shows that the mother’s mitochondria can sometimes replicate faster than the donor’s and come to dominate again, potentially bringing disease with it.”
Because of the unknown health risks, the U.S. banned MDT via congressional amendment, while the U.K. approved the procedure in 2016, according to STAT news reporter Emily Mullin.
“In December 2015, the U.S. Congress prohibited the FDA from considering clinical trials in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified, effectively banning mitochondrial replacement therapy,” Mullin writes.
However, Mullin notes that there is a push to make the therapy legal in the U.S., citing an event held at Harvard University for the purpose of drafting policies that would change the law.
Elizabeth Crawford is a rising senior at Hillsdale College studying politics. A member of The American Spectator’s 2023 intern class, Elizabeth enjoys drinking good tea and plans to pursue a career in journalism.
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