The never-ending dispute between science and ethics continues with a new proposed law in Britain. This law would allow parents who carry maternally-inherited incurable conditions to participate in a technique, called mitochondrial donation, in which during the fertilization process, the genes will be altered to contain the genetic material of three people. Carried out through IVF (In Vitro Fertilization), doctors could remove mitochondria (the powerhouse of a cell that, if defective, accounts for numerous inherited and potentially fatal diseases), and modify it with genes from a normal female donor. The baby would contain the genetic material from the mother, father, and donor, and could help those who would suffer from mitochondrial disease including brain disorders, liver failure, fatal heart problems, and muscular dystrophy.
Opponents of this law include religious groups as well as other critics, such as lawmaker Rees-Mogg, who said he would vote against it. The fear is that genetically modified embryos, or "designer babies", will become more popular in the future and basically deem the whole process as 'cruel'. My opinion on this is a slightly torn. While the technology is incredible and could potentially help people across the globe not suffer from these diseases, I feel it would be very strange to have a child with three parents, and I'm not sure where it falls on the line between science and ethics. To solve this dilemma, maybe parents could try to find out if their child could be diagnosed with these diseases prior to getting pregnant.
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I think this is really interesting, and think that it should be allowed. While it's mind blowing that a baby could technically have three parents, having the ability to eliminate painful diseases is extremely important. I don't see how this would fall into a designer baby category as they aren't trying to have a baby look a certain way; they're trying to prevent harmful tissue deterioration. While certainly an ethical issue, I personally feel that not using this technique would be cruel.
ReplyDeleteI completely understand where you're coming from. It's certainly incredible that the technology is out there to perform these types of procedures. Also, when I think of the term 'designer babies', I feel like it refers to the altering of any genetic material of a embryo (or zygote in this case), that wouldn't have occurred naturally (not just things such as eye color). All in all, this procedure could be extremely beneficial to future children in preventing numerous types of inherited diseases.
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