Brave New World: UK Is First To Legalize Three-Parent Babies

It’s now legal in Britain to create a three-parent baby using healthy DNA from a donor to fix debilitating genetic problems. U.K. fertility clinic regulator Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has approved the “cautious use” of the technique, developed by British scientists, to replace an egg’s defective mitochondrial DNA with healthy mitochondrial DNA from another female donor to prevent the child from suffering from genetic flaws.  We have permitted the cautious use of mitochondrial donation in treatment, following advice from scientific experts https://t.co/2xKOcriIHO— HFEA (@HFEA) December 15, 2016 The baby would have two biological mothers and a father, which could potentially cause court challenges down the line over custody or inheritance. HFEA has approved the technique in “certain, specific cases” only after all other options have been exhausted, such as screening for healthy embryos. HFEA Chairwoman Sally Cheshire said in a statement Thursday that approval of the technique is “life-changing” for families. Parents who face a very high risk of having a child with a life-threatening mitochondrial disease “may soon have the chance of a healthy, genetically related child,” she said. Fertility clinics can begin to apply immediately for a license to carry out the procedure and could being using it in early 2017, with the first three-parent babies likely to be born late in the ...
Source: Science - The Huffington Post - Category: Science Source Type: news