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UK Government Proposes Rules To Allow 'Three-Parent Embryos'

Posted by Unknown on from the meet-my-nine-parents dept.

sciencehabit writes "The U.K. government today issued proposed regulations that would allow researchers to try a new and controversial in vitro fertilization (IVF) procedure in patients. The technique could allow women who are carriers of mitochondrial disease to have healthy, genetically related children. But it also transfers DNA from one egg or embryo into another, a form of genetic alteration that could be passed on to future generations. Altering the genes of human egg cells or embryos in IVF procedures is now forbidden in the United Kingdom."

9 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. How DARE you propose NOT to allow this? by jeffb+(2.718) · · Score: 5, Interesting

    This is a solution doesn't just allow such women to have healthy, genetically related children. It frees their lineage from the disease. Implement this fix in one generation, and the children, grandchildren, and all their progeny are disease-free.

    I find it incredibly offensive to say that women should be forced to condemn their children to suffer from a preventable disease, or be prevented from bearing genetically-related children, simply because some people think the cure is "unnatural".

    1. Re:How DARE you propose NOT to allow this? by Hognoxious · · Score: 4, Insightful

      You'd have a point if mitochondrial DNA did all that shit. Thing is, mitochondrial DNA doesn't so any of that shit.

      --
      Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."
    2. Re:How DARE you propose NOT to allow this? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I find it incredibly offensive to say that women should be forced to condemn their children to suffer from a preventable disease,

      Then don't have kids. It's still an elective choice.

      or be prevented from bearing genetically-related children, simply because some people think the cure is "unnatural".

      By its very definition of how it's done is unnatural and the long term consequences to the gene pool unknown.

    3. Re:How DARE you propose NOT to allow this? by twotacocombo · · Score: 3, Informative

      Or, you know, NOT having children also eliminates the perpetuation of a disease. All genetically-inherited diseases, in fact. Why some people think this planet is in such dire need of more inhabitants that they'd go to lengths such as these just blows my mind. Absolutely feel the need to raise a child? Please adopt. There are plenty of children out there that would love to have a permanent, loving home. Same goes for animals. Before we bring more life into this world, we need to address the suffering of those who are already here.

    4. Re:How DARE you propose NOT to allow this? by Microlith · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Or, you know, NOT having children also eliminates the perpetuation of a disease.

      Or we could solve the problem instead of simply going "oh you should just not have children."

      Why some people think this planet is in such dire need of more inhabitants that they'd go to lengths such as these just blows my mind.

      Because it's an inherent drive in most living creatures. Feel free to start with yourself, however.

      Before we bring more life into this world, we need to address the suffering of those who are already here.

      Addressing the suffering of those who are here has no bearing on bringing in more life, nor are they mutually exclusive.

  2. Re:Stranger than fiction by JazzHarper · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Under the proposal, the donor of the egg would have no parental rights. That is logical, since mtDNA carries very little information, compared to nuclear DNA.

    There is no genetic modification involved so there is no "intellectual property" vested in the DNA of the offspring. From that standpoint, this is no different from conventional in-vitro fertilization.

  3. Re:Stranger than fiction by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Insightful

    a kid with three parents may well have a hard time fitting into a legal system that assumes only two

    A kid with three legal parents, perhaps, but that's not what's being discussed.

    For instance, how would the divorce issues work out (custody, support, etc)?

    Surely it would be dealt with in exactly the same way as egg donation, sperm donation, adoption, surrogacy etc. The two legal parents will be the legal parents, and no-one else gets a say.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  4. Re:Stranger than fiction by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3

    For god's sake WHY?

    Because most people don't feel the way you do about family.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.
  5. No big deal by wonkey_monkey · · Score: 3, Interesting

    My DNA is already a mis-mash of genes from millions of ancestors. What would one more matter?

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk.