Tuesday, March 21, 2017

First License for Three-Person Baby Granted in UK


Image: Guardian article, photograph by Alamy

Yes, you read that correctly. A three-person baby (AKA, a baby that has DNA from three people) isn't something new. In fact, a girl named Alana Saarinen is one of the first people to have DNA from three parents (mother, father, and mitochondrial DNA from female donor). Her parents used a fertility treatment called cytoplasmic transfer to have her in the 1990s. However, creating babies using IVF is a new method being used today. Doctors in Newcastle, UK were granted licenses to perform IVF three-parent treatments. What doctors and families hope with three DNA is to essentially eliminate the possibility that their child will be affected by devastating genetic diseases caused by defected mitochondrial DNA in the mother. 
The idea of having children with DNA from three people has been shrouded in controversy since its inception, but it is an interesting topic. It will be exciting to see how successful the treatments are with regards to diseases in children after birth. 

1 comment:

  1. I read the title of this article and was interested. I did not think it was possible for a human to have DNA from three parents. This is exciting for the future of parents who have the chance of having genetically defected children. I think it is a great advantage and option for the parents. This new method of IVF to help create babies without genetic diseases can be controversial. But, if these treatments are very successful then hopefully people will realize it is better for the baby and for the parents as well.

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