Earlier this week, a team of scientists recommended
the US Food and Drug Administration approve
testing for mitochondrial replacement
- a procedure sometimes noted in the media as
its resulting in three parent babies!
Mitochondrial diseases are a group of potentially
deadly disorders targeting the organelles
powering our cells.
This DNA mutation can result in a wide range
of symptoms, including heart failure and dementia
-- and there is as yet no cure.
But there is a way to prevent a mother from
passing these disorders onto her child
- Mitochondrial transfer.
Mitochondrial transfer entails the injection
of cytoplasm from a healthy woman’s egg
into the eggs of a patent with mitochondrial
disease.
Technically, yes, the resulting child boasts
three sets of genetic material -- though it's
kind of a sensationalist leap to claim she
has three genetic parents.
As Annalee Newitz explains in her Ars Technica
article on the subject, the whole procedure
is rather like a "microscopic organ transplant."
The recipient of a human kidney donation winds
up with a third set of genes as well,
but that doesn't mean they have to buy an extra
mother's day card each year.
So why do scientists have to nudge the FDA
on the matter?
Despite the procedure's legality in Great
Britain, we are talking about the permanent
manipulation of human eggs or embryos.
Even though the procedure saves lives, and
eradicates disease, the technique itself continues
to resonate with fears of "designer babies"
and "gene editing."
The FDA itself requested this paper, "Mitochondrial
Replacement Techniques: Ethical, Social, and
Policy Considerations," after nearly two years
of consideration on mitochondrial replacement testing.
But as the latest US federal budget contains
specific language that prevents the FDA from
using funds to review applications in which
a human embryo is "intentionally created or
modified,"
hopeful parents in the US might have to wait
a bit longer for the ethical miasma to clear
on the topic.
How do you feel about Mitochondrial transfer?
Slippery slope to designer babies or just
a way for modern medicine to eliminate a potentially
devastating disease in utero?
Let us know and if you want more mind-bending
science goodness,
be sure to visit now.HowStuffWorks.com each and every day.
