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Three Parents Contribute to Experimental Human Embryo
gihan_ripper writes "It sounds like the storyline from a cheesy film, but a human embryo has been created using the genetic material from one man and two women. A team from Newcastle University, England, developed the technique in the hope that it could be used to prevent diseases caused by faulty mitochondria. Their experiment started with two ingredients: first, a left over (and 'severely abnormal') embryo from an IVF treatment; second, a donor egg from another woman. The donor egg has all but the mitochondrial DNA removed, then a nucleus from the embryo is inserted into the egg. Effectively, this results in a mitochondria transplant. 'While any baby born through this method would have genetic elements from three people, the nuclear DNA that influences appearance and other characteristics would not come from the woman providing the donor egg. However, the team only have permission to carry out the lab experiments and as yet this would not be allowed to be offered as a treatment.'"
...wait 10 years from now. We will have all kinds of freaks of "nature". And, when that happens, you can count on these kinds of things to happen:
1. "Parents" find out at birth that they are not happy with the results - (Billy has six hearts and a fourth of a lung).
2. "Children" that weren't too happy about being a party to Mom/Dads designer genetic tastes - (Billy sues Mom - Dad goes AWOL).
3. "Interest Groups" that go on kill Frankenstein crusades to protect their children.
One could argue this ad infinitum but the fact is that this type of "research" is a dangerous, slippery slope. History will look back on this era as a time for missed opportunities to legislate against this globally. Instead everyone mocks Bush and the Pope.
Be afraid, be very afraid.