British scientists have created eight children in a lab over the past two years whose health continues to be monitored in hopes of determining if research methods that incorporate a third parent in the gene pool will have long-lasting success. Touted as a breakthrough discovery in combating mitochondrial disease, this experiment is another dangerous application of IVF technology that will ultimately confuse both the children and generations to come.
Incorporating a Third Parent
The research started in 2014, and its stated purpose was to help parents whose children would likely carry mitochondrial disease. To rectify the issue with the unborn child’s DNA, scientists used a third parent’s mitochondrial material. Though the genes that code for all other physical characteristics are removed so that the second woman’s genetics amount to less than 1 percent of the babies’ genetic makeup, combining the genetic material of three parties is no small feat.
First, two half-siblings are created: one from the father’s sperm and the mother’s eggs, and the other from the father’s sperm and the donor’s egg. Later, the healthy mitochondrial DNA of the children with the donor mother is left in the embryo, while all the other DNA is extracted. The procedure is completed with the true maternal and paternal DNA being inserted into the “mostly gutted” embryo. It is unclear what happens to the child created using the maternal and paternal DNA.
After all, wasn’t this the type of child that the couple is hoping to avoid via this complex IVF process?
False Pretenses
Of course, no research center wants to admit the full implications of the work they have done. Instead, many researchers and headlines are insisting that the procedure is strictly for children who are at risk of mitochondrial diseases. These diseases, they say, are highly damaging and may result in death.
Never mind the undesirable “embryos” who experience certain death during the laboratory creation of their siblings.
Some researchers have gone so far as to mock the idea of “three-parent” children.
“I think it’s nonsense to call them three-parent babies,” said Robin Lovell-Badge of the Francis Crick Institute. “It’s all about their nuclear genes and who their parents were.”
Many supporters of the procedure argue that if it is possible to help those who want to be parents “achieve their own babies,” it would be wrong to deny them this opportunity.
Supporters have a one-track mind: “As a doctor,” defended Dr. Valery Zukin, “I only understand one thing: We have parents who couldn’t have children and now they have their own biological child. That’s all.”
Designer Babies Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Luckily, other prominent voices in the science community are speaking out with concern. They see this research as the key to a Pandora’s Box of ethical and biological issues down the road; designer babies are only the beginning of the problems this research can cause.
First, scientists are still unsure what the long-term effects of this study will be. Even now, about two years after the birth of the first three-parent child, these babies are an ongoing science experiment, living under the scrutiny of doctors and lawmakers who are waiting to legalize and monetize their methods. The studies have even been called “irresponsible kind[s] of human experimentation” by experts in the field.
The unknown complications potentially faced by the children are not the only safety concerns wrapped up in this novel process. Risks are also taken by the women who contributed to the children’s genetics and risks are imminent for future generations should genetic issues surface.
Additionally, as much as researchers would like us to brush off the siblings of the children now safely living with their parents, doing so would be an outrage. If the research is truly a treatment “to significantly reduce their risk of having a baby with Mito,” scientists must account for the first embryo that was created using Mom and Dad’s genes, as any naturally conceived baby would be. Just because this child is never given the chance to grow up does not mean its existence can be nullified by science.
As with most IVF procedures, these children are thrown out and forgotten.
The creation of children through such extravagant means points to a flaw in society’s thinking. Doctors involved with the procedures say that it is their clients’ dream to have “a genetic connection” to their baby. While this is a natural desire, it is wrong for someone to demand a genetic child.
“What you’re seeing is this sense that, ‘My genes are very valuable. My genes are the only ones worth reproducing,’” said Francois Baylis of Canada’s Dalhousie University. She expressed concern with the societal need to reproduce a genetic child, especially when it utilizes such extravagant methods as a second mother.
Of course, as with many conversations surrounding reproductive technologies, all roads lead back to “designer babies.”
“It’s dangerous. It’s biologically dangerous,” concluded Start Newman from New York Medical College. “It’s dangerous culturally because it’s the beginning… that just won’t end with preventing certain diseases… genes will be manipulated to make designer babies.”
International Spread
The initial research on these eight children took place in England. Now, their “success” story is being used as the blueprint for this research internationally.
Currently, this procedure is banned in the United States. However, Australia has legalized the methodology.
When confronted with the potential for completely choosing and editing children’s genetics, one reporter for 9 News Australia said, “I mean, I think it has to be genetic and that’s it.” Like the headlines and researchers, the reporter insinuated that if such procedures are restricted to helping babies who face a potential genetic disease, they are ethical. Anything further, like changing eye or hair color, is too far.
Her coworker quickly countered that “once you go into that petri dish,” lines can get quickly blurred and manipulation becomes easy.
IVF has already led to a myriad of modern ethical concerns, and there is no telling where it will stop before people are fully satisfied.
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