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SCIENTISTS have called for time-out on an experimental therapy which could produce babies with three biological parents.
A paper published today in the journal Science says the risks of the proposed IVF technique, known as “mitochondrial replacement”, have been downplayed.
Under the approach, cells from a prospective mother and father are inserted into a donor’s egg to prevent the baby from inheriting a “mitochondrial” disease from the mother.
The donor’s egg has been stripped of its nucleus but contains energy-producing components of cells known as mitochondria. The resulting embryo contains genes from three people, with the donor contributing about 0.1 per cent of the DNA.
Researchers in the US and UK want laws relaxed to permit the therapy. Regulations being drafted in the UK could see it legalised next year, with the first three-parent baby born in 2015.
But while critics have focused on ethical objections, the Science paper highlights health risks to the children. “A sizeable body of research, that is potentially very insightful to this debate, has been overlooked,” said Australian co-author Damian Dowling, an evolutionary biologist at...
A paper published today in the journal Science says the risks of the proposed IVF technique, known as “mitochondrial replacement”, have been downplayed.
Under the approach, cells from a prospective mother and father are inserted into a donor’s egg to prevent the baby from inheriting a “mitochondrial” disease from the mother.
The donor’s egg has been stripped of its nucleus but contains energy-producing components of cells known as mitochondria. The resulting embryo contains genes from three people, with the donor contributing about 0.1 per cent of the DNA.
Researchers in the US and UK want laws relaxed to permit the therapy. Regulations being drafted in the UK could see it legalised next year, with the first three-parent baby born in 2015.
But while critics have focused on ethical objections, the Science paper highlights health risks to the children. “A sizeable body of research, that is potentially very insightful to this debate, has been overlooked,” said Australian co-author Damian Dowling, an evolutionary biologist at...