The news that eight babies with the DNA of three parents have been born in the UK has been greeted by some as a great step in the fight against genetic diseases.
But many Christians are concerned about the ethical implications of the development, which involves the destruction of two living embryos to create a third.
Scientists at Newcastle University developed a technique so that babies can be born without inherited mitochondrial disease, which can affect the blood, heart, and even cause blindness as well as developmental, metabolic and neurological disorders.
The disease affects around 1 in 5,000 babies in Britain.
HOW THE TECHNIQUE WORKS
Only women with a high risk of passing on the disease to their children were eligible to undergo the process of creating a triple DNA baby.
The technique involves combining a fertilised egg and sperm with another egg, taken from a donor woman who does not have the condition.
The eight babies were born in the last five years.
In all, 22 women underwent the procedure, but only seven became pregnant, with one having twins, representing a success rate of 36%.
TRIAL RUN HAILED A SUCCESS, BUT DOUBTS REMAIN
The first trial of the technique has been hailed as a success as five of the babies were free of mitochondrial disease.
But three were born with low levels of the mitochondrial issues the technique was supposed to prevent.
The anonymous mother of one of the children was quoted as saying, “The emotional burden of mitochondrial disease has been lifted, and in its place is hope, joy, and deep gratitude.”
However, the procedure is raising major ethical concerns.
BIGGEST CONCERN OVER THE DESTRUCTION OF LIVING HUMAN EMBRYOS
The implications of being born with DNA from three people has generally been downplayed, as 99.98% of the child’s DNA still comes from the mother and father.
The remaining 0.02% comes from a female donor.
Of more concern is the practice of experimenting on and destroying living human embryos.
Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right To Life UK, said: “In the creation of a three parent baby, two other embryos are destroyed.”
“That means two individual human beings have their lives ended to create a third.”
RIGHT TO LIFE ALARMED BY EXPERIMENTATION ON HUMAN EMBRYOS
Ms. Robinson expressed concerns about requests by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to extend the point at which human embryos can legally be experimented on, from 14 days to 22.
“Human embryos should never be experimented on, but it is even more disturbing to see HFEA make the case for doing experiments on them, even further into their development,” she said.
“At around 22 days, the central nervous system is formed and by 28 days, the developing heart can sometimes be seen beating, the brain has begun to develop and a baby’s eyes, ears and nose have begun to emerge”.
BIOETHICIST’S CONCERN ABOUT ‘DESIGNER BABIES’
A Christian bioethicist has warned that the fertilisation technique to bypass inherited disease is ethically “complex”.
Professor David Jones, Director of Anscombe Bioethics, told Premier Christian News: “There are women that we don’t hear about [donating the egg], as well as potentially hundreds of other embryos which are destroyed.”
He expressed concern that the procedure could lead the country down a slippery slope of “designer babies”.
“These are, in a way, genetically modified children. That is also a limit which will lead to other things, I fear.”
“A CALL FOR CAUTION AND TREADING CAREFULLY”
The method has been legal in the UK for a decade – but this breakthrough is the first time it has been used to bypass mitochondrial disease.
“Every child is a gift from God,” agreed Professor Jones.
“But we need to ask ourselves: ‘What is really going on?’”
Dr Heidi Mertes, Associate Professor in Medical Ethics at Ghent University, Belgium, said the complications are “a call for caution and treading carefully”.
“As long as they don’t understand what’s happening, I would still be worried”.
“WE SHOULD BE FOCUSING ON SAFER ALTERNATIVES”
The Christian Institute’s Director Ciarán Kelly warned that more problems with the experimentation may only be known in “generations to come.”
“Children created through the process are still at risk from serious diseases.”
“Instead of screening out those deemed less worthy of life, we should be focusing on adult stem cell research which offers real hope to those suffering from mitochondrial diseases.”
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