UK Bioethics Body Approves Embryo Modification to Prevent Mitochondrial Disease
The London-based Nuffield Council on Bioethics found few ethical qualms with two procedures that involve transferring DNA from an egg cell with defunct mitochondria to another woman’s egg that has been stripped of its nucleus.
In principle, the resulting egg could then develop into a healthy child carrying both the parents’ nuclear genes and mitochondrial DNA from the donor. But the work amounts to genetic modification of embryos — which is currently illegal in the United Kingdom — and also involves destroying fertilized eggs.
The procedures haven’t been tried out on humans, but basic research is underway to determine if they are safe and effective for clinical trials to begin. Meanwhile, movement is afoot to make the procedures legal in the UK.
Unfortunately, this therapy will never be legal in the US, and the lives of thousands of children and parents will be ruined because of politics.
(via Bioethics board backs embryo alteration for mitochondrial disease | KurzweilAI)
