Thursday, March 12, 2015

U.K. lawmakers approve: "3 Parent-babies" law

Britain has become the first country in the world to allow the creation of babies with DNA from three people (one man and two women). The first baby can be born as next year. According to the article on Discovery News, Lawmakers at the House of Commons voted by 328 to 128. A majority of 254 were in favor for allowing the creation of in-vitro fertilization babies with the DNA from three people. This controversial procedure aim to prevent serious inherited diseases that are being passed on from mother to son.

Mitochondria convert food into energy and live in nearly every cell of the body. They have their own DNA, which isn’t responsible for appearance that passes down from mother to child. If the mitochondria is defective, brain damage, blindness, heart defects can occur in the new born baby. When the mitochondria is from a healthy donor, the In-vitro fertilization technique leaves the resulting baby to ward off the disease. This is a big win for women whose defective mitochondria means that their children can inherit deadly genetic diseases.

Although this discovery can help women whose defective mitochondria can affect their child with inherited genetic diseases, I think people can somehow take advantage of this procedure in the future. 

3 comments:

  1. I see both sides on this one. I agree that mothers with defective mitochondrial DNA can have children and feel confident that their offspring will not have serious illnesses. I also think there could be potential legal issues that may arise. What if the donor mom wants custody of the child? Who is to say she cannot take the child away from the birth mother?

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  3. Yes legal issues can arise from this but it can be prevented by having the donor mother sign a waiver which waives her right to contest custody of the child.

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