- Scientists are seeking permission to carry out experiments
that would result in children being born with three biological parents.
UK medical authorities say they will almost certainly approve the application
in the next few weeks.
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- The aim of the technique is to prevent mothers passing
on degenerative genetic diseases to their children. But campaigners say
it could lead to significant increases in elderly women having children.
They also claim it represents an unacceptable step towards the creation
of designer babies.
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- 'By creating a child with three genetic parents, these
scientists are taking the first step towards genetic engineering of human
beings. That is not a direction in which we should be going,' said Dr David
King, director of Human Genetics Alert.
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- The technology - which is being developed by a team at
Newcastle University - will involve the implanting of the nucleus of an
embryo from an affected mother into an egg taken from a donor that has
been stripped of its nucleus.
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- Human eggs carry small spherical or rod-like bodies called
mitochondria, which supply energy for the growing foetus. These have their
own genes, inherited separately from the child's main chromosomal genes.
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- Crucially, some mitochondrial DNA is defective and can
pass on one of around 50 degenerative diseases. It is thought more than
1,000 children in Britain suffer from diseases caused by defective mitochondria,
some ending up with chronic brain disease.
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- Neurologist Professor Doug Turnbull and embryologist
Dr Mary Herbert believe that by implanting the nucleus of an embryo of
a mother with defective mitochondria into the egg of a woman with healthy
mitochondria, the resultant foetus will be free of the destructive genetic
diseases.
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- The Newcastle team, which has applied for permission
from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to carry out
the experiments, stress they are at least three years away from offering
the treatment. If they get approval they will experiment on abnormally
fertilised eggs that have come from IVF treatment which would otherwise
have been discarded.
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- 'At the moment there is no cure for these children who
are often very ill with a poor quality of life,' said Turnbull. 'We are
at a very early stage of this work, but it does offer the potential to
help many mothers and their families.'
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- However, the prospect horrifies groups who believe the
ethical problems and safety risks far outweigh any benefits to future generations.
Dr Jamie Grifo, of New York University, applied to carry out similar experiments
but was prevented from doing so in America. He then carried out operations
in China using a technique similar to that planned by Turnbull and Herbert,
removing the nuclei from one set of eggs and implanting them into another
set of emptied eggs with healthy mitochondria. A Chinese woman became pregnant
as a result, but lost both infants after six months.
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- Dr King said: 'These new techniques of reproductive technology,
which involve more and more manipulation of embryos, are potentially very
risky for the child.'
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- Patrick Cusworth, of the charity Life, condemned the
work, saying it would raise questions as to who would be the real mother.
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- 'We would also be concerned about the safety of any embryo
or child born from this method and worried that the technology could be
abused by other scientists for different purposes.'
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- The claims were dismissed by Paul Preston, of The Children's
Mitochondrial Disease Network. He has three children who suffer from inherited
diseases.
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- 'This research offers us real hope and could be a vital
step forward,' he said. 'Anybody who has to live with a child that is unaware
of the environment he lives in, who cannot move and can only eat or drink
through a tube does not realise the suffering caused by such diseases.
This is not about genetic engineering but about stopping children suffering.'
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- A spokeswoman for the HFEA confirmed it had received
an application for the research but would not comment on when or if it
was likely to be approved.
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- Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited
2004 http://observer.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,6903,1329371,00.html
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