Great Britain Babies with three parents

Great Britain: babies with three parents

04/02/2015

In the UK, physicians will in future be able to use the DNA of three people for artificial insemination. This has now been decided by the British House of Commons. With this method, hereditary diseases should be prevented. At the decision to the „Three-parent babies“ there is also criticism.

Egg with the DNA of three people
Great Britain wants to become the first country in the world of science to open the way for an egg cell with the DNA of three people. As the news agency AP reported, the members of the British House of Commons voted on Tuesday with 382 votes in favor and 128 votes against the relevant law. However, the House of Lords also has to agree. It is said that this controversial technology should prevent mothers from passing on hereditary diseases to their children.

Similar method was banned in the US
After the House of Commons has voted in favor of the law by such an overwhelming majority, it is expected that the House of Lords will also agree. This would make the UK, which had already played a pioneering role in artificial insemination, the first country to permit the genetic modification of embryos. According to the information, an egg is genetically modified before or after fertilization so that it has the stem DNA from its parents, but the mitochondrial DNA comes from a donor. It is said that women should be able to fulfill a wish for a baby, their mitochondrial cell organelles with their own genetic material, such as „power plants“ the cells act - are defective. If so, heart, kidney, liver and muscle weaknesses can be the result. The news agency dpa reports that in the US a similar method was once legalized, but was banned again in 2002.

Critics fear „Designer babies“
The legalization of this technology can pave the way for „Designer babies“ pave, my critic. However, experts pointed out that third-person DNA accounts for less than one percent of the embryo's modified genes. As reported by AP, Health Minister Jane Ellison in the House of Commons said the law was a „Daring, but a well-considered and expert step“ be. It was said that about twelve women suffering from defective mitochondria were eligible for this technology each year. In addition, these cases are subject to strict supervision.

„Wide support“ in the public
As the news agency AP writes, Rachel Kean's aunt suffered from the defect and her mother also carries it. Therefore, Kean now hopes that the law will take all the necessary hurdles. She said: „I did not want to give birth to a child who would have a short, painful life full of suffering.“ A spokesman for British Prime Minister David Cameron said he was a big supporter of the law. The Prime Minister himself had a son who died of a rare form of epilepsy in 2006 at the age of only six. The approval of the population is likely to be great. For example, the previous year when the trial was reported, the United Kingdom Human Fertilization and Embryo Authority (HFEA) found that there was a public health problem „wide support“ for the new method. (Ad)