With modern technology, it is becoming easier to have a child, even if you struggle with infertility. In vitro fertilization and other methods help many mothers conceive a child. This wouldn't be possible 50 years ago, but is now a reality. The new procedure covered in the New York Times Science article shows the further advances in fertility treatments.
Scientist Shoukhrat Mitalipov has perfected a minuscule surgery, removing the nucleus from a human egg and putting the nucleus in another egg. This procedure is supposed to help women conceive children without passing on genetic defects, which can occur in the mitochondria. Defects occur for every 1 in 4,000 babies born in the US with a mitochondrial disease. Problems from these defects include neurological damage, heart failure, and blindness.
Dr. Mitalipov's procedure places the nucleus from the mother's egg into a donor egg with a removed nucleus. This leaves behind the defective mitochondria, because they float outside the nucleus in the egg's cytoplasm. This means that there would be genetic material from 3 parents in the baby, which has raised concerns with ethicists.
The procedure has been successfully implemented on monkeys, but the FDA isn't convinced that the surgery is safe to test on humans. There is worry that the process will introduce new genetic mutations into the gene pool. Some ethicists also believe that this will lead to parents selecting certain traits for their baby. Dr. Mitalipov insists that neither of these concerns are valid, and that mitochondrial defects can be prevented.
NOS Themes
- Role of motivation and curiosity: Dr. Mitalipov is curious on how to prevent mitochondrial defects from occurring in the fertility process
- Importance of repeatability:This procedure has been carried out on monkeys, but hasn't taken place with a human subject
- Conflicts within the scientific community: There is a debate on the ethics of this procedure, if allowed to be carried out on humans, then what is stopping the design of babies? Genetics is a huge ethical issue to be discussed
Article Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/18/science/shoukhrat-mitalipovs-mitochrondrial-manipulations.html?ref=science&_r=0
This article is very interesting and has many controversial view about it. It is quite odd that if this is implemented, that the offspring will have material from 3 parents. At the same times, it would be great for our population if we could minimize mitochondrial diseases. Here I have attached a link that talks about how the mitochondria manipulating can actually cause more diseases. It is really worth taking a look at. http://hmg.oxfordjournals.org/content/10/26/3093.long
ReplyDeleteThis ability of having a child with genetics from three parents does provide benefits. Some of those benfits include extended fertility of mothers, and the avoidance of passing down heritable diseases. This is a gateway to genetically modified humans.
ReplyDeleteI feel this is mostly beneficial, but we shouldn't mess with nature too much. As you said this could lead to parents choosing their child's traits. I feel like that is a little too far, tampering with nature can be dangerous and as you said again, genetic mutations and errors can come of this.
ReplyDeleteThis approach can definitely help some women overcome the issue for infertility. The mitochondrial DNA replacement may also raise the possibility of creating an elite or super race of humans. Also, I don't know if it is humane for a baby to have genetic materials from 3 parents. BBC news reported that, according to the head of Human Genetics Alert (David King), "the more you manipulate embryos, the more risk there is."
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bbc.com/news/health-12708858