Thumbs-up for 'two mom' embryo
2005-09-09 07:03
London - A team of scientists in Britain were granted official approval on Thursday to create a human embryo using genetic material from two women, raising the future prospect of babies with a pair of mothers.
The group from Newcastle University have been given the green light by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), the government-appointed genetics and reproductive technology watchdogs for Britain, where such science is tightly regulated.
The scientists will transfer the pro-nuclei - the components of a human embryo nucleus - made by one man and woman into an unfertilised egg from another woman.
This technique is intended to help prevent mothers from passing on so-called mitochondrial diseases on to their unborn babies, genetic conditions caused by DNA outside the nucleus of a cell, in the mitochondria.
Mitochondria have their own DNA, inherited from the mother only. If this DNA is faulty, then children can develop diseases affecting cells in the brain, heart, liver, kidney or skeletal muscles, for which there is currently no known cure.
Research remains controversial
Previous studies in mice showed it was possible to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial disease by moving the nucleus from an egg containing bad mitochondrial DNA to an unaffected egg.
The human trial will not see any eggs allowed to develop into babies, but the research nonetheless remains controversial.
Professor John Burn from Newcastle University stressed that the new tests would not lead to "designer babies".
"From a philosophical or medical point of view there is no reason why we should not do this," he said.
"I would use the analogy of simply replacing the battery in a pocket radio to explain what we are doing. You are not altering the radio at all - just giving it a new power source.
If a baby was born following such a technique, he noted, it would resemble its biological parents rather than the women into whose embryo the nucleus would be transplanted, as characteristics such as hair colour, height and personality come from nucleus DNA.
However, campaigners expressed concern at the project.
"This shows once again that the HFEA does not have any regard for public consultation and the views of the public," Josephine Quintavalle, from the Comment on Reproductive Ethics group, told the BBC.