Backing for three parent IVF
A report from an influential think tank could help clear the way to IVF babies being born with DNA from three different people.
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Ethics body backs controversial 'three-parent IVF'
Dr Geoff Watts: Three parent IVF 'ethically acceptable'
Dr Geoff Watts, Chairman of the Working Party for Nuffield Council of Bioethics: "Ethically we feel these technologies are acceptable....
"The benefit to them (families affected by mitochondrial diseases) of this technology if it ever came into practice, is that they would with great confidence be able to have children who were disease-free."
Three parent IVF 'dangerous', says pro-life group
Mitochondria technique approval 'dangerous' says #prolife group SPUC http://t.co/VKSPQ6Ex #bioethics
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Think tank backs 'three-parent IVF'
A report from an influential think tank could help clear the way to IVF babies being born with DNA from three different people.
Read the full storyPro-life group attacks 'three parent IVF'
– Anthony Ozimic, Pro-life group Society for the Protection of Unborn ChildrenAs with IVF and cloning, this mitochondrial technique may well lead to the developmental abnormalities. Creating embryonic children in the laboratory abuses them, by subjecting them to unnatural processes. These techniques are both destructive and dangerous and therefore unethical.
"Scientists should abandon the spurious field of destructive embryo experimentation and instead promote the ethical alternative of adult stem cell research, which is already providing cures and treatments for an increasing number of conditions."
'Three-parent IVF' raises ethical fears
Controversy surrounds attempts to prevent mitochondrial diseases through hi-tech variations of In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) treatment.
One technique, pronuclear transfer, involves transferring nuclear DNA out of a day-old embryonic cell containing defective mitochondria.
The DNA is planted into another single-cell embryo whose mitochondria function normally.
The donor embryo's own nuclear DNA is discarded. However, it still contains the normal mitochondria of the woman whose egg was fertilised to create it.
As it grows, the embryo produces a baby with DNA from three sources - nuclear DNA from the original parents, plus a tiny amount of mitochondrial DNA from the woman egg donor.
Although such techniques are banned, they could be voted in by Parliament under existing legislation.
Think tank: Three parent IVF 'ethical'
– Dr Geoff Watts, chairman of the Nuffield Council inquiryIf further research shows these techniques to be sufficiently safe and effective, we think it would be ethical for families to use them if they wished to, provided they receive an appropriate level of information and support.
"They could offer significant health and social benefits to individuals and families, who could potentially live their lives free from what can be very severe and debilitating disorders."
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Why 'three-parent IVF'?
- Around a hundred babies a year are born with genetic defects in what scientists call mitochondrial genes.
- Faulty mitochondrial genes can lead to a wide range of serious disorders including heart malfunction, kidney and liver disease, stroke, dementia, and blindness.
- Around 6,000 adults in the UK are believed to be affected by mitochondrial diseases.
- Children born after 'Three parent IVF' would possess nuclear DNA inherited from their parents plus mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) from a woman donor.
Read ITN's Science and Medical Editor Lawrence McGinty's report here.
Ethics body backs controversial 'three-parent IVF'
A think tank on ethics has given the all clear to a new technique for preventing genetic diseases that affect 6,000 people in the UK.
Read the full storyEthics body backs potential 'three-parent IVF'
A report from an influential think tank could help clear the way to IVF babies being born with DNA from three different people.
Outlawed techniques that give a baby DNA from a father, a mother and a woman donor to prevent inherited disorders are morally justified, says the Nuffield Council on Bioethics.