Doctors in the UK have announced the births of eight babies who were each created after two zygotes using DNA from three people were altered to make one person. The technology behind the children’s conception has been called “deeply concerning.”
Key Takeaways:
- Eight babies created using the DNA from three adults have been born in the UK.
- The technology, Mitochondrial donation treatment (MDT), was created to avoid mitochondrial disease in children — but it destroys the lives of two human beings.
- MDT involves removing the nuclei out of a zygote (embryo) and using them as replacements for the nuclei in another zygote.
- Mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of cells, but they also affect a person’s personality, mental health, and longevity.
- The eight children were reportedly born ‘healthy,’ but some have developed minor health conditions that may or may not be a result of their conception. The long-term risks of MDT are unknown.
The Details:
According to The Guardian, four boys and four girls — including a set of identical twins — were born to seven women who were all high risk for passing on life-threatening diseases to their children due to faulty mitochondria, the cells’ source of power. Another woman in the study is still pregnant.
People inherit all of their mitochondria — including 37 genes — from their mother. Using a donor egg with healthy mitochondria is an attempt to diminish children’s risk of life-threatening diseases.
The MDT procedure involves using in vitro fertilization (IVF), creating a zygote (embryo) from the father’s sperm and the mother’s egg. In the case of MDT, two zygotes (embryos) are created, one using sperm and egg from the intended parents and the other using a donated egg and the father’s sperm.
Once joined, technicians remove the pronuclei from both the intended parents’ embryo (containing 23 chromosomes from the mother and 23 from the father) and the pronuclei from a donor egg (fertilized by the same father) and then put the pronuclei from the first embryo into the donor embryo, which has healthy mitochondria. This new embryo with three parents is then transferred into the mother’s uterus.
The original embryo, one created from the intended mother and father, is destroyed. The second embryo, also a complete person, is forever altered after his or her nuclei were removed and destroyed to make way for the nuclei from the “wanted embryo.”
The UK legalized the MDT process in 2015. It remains illegal in the U.S.
Commentary:
“The technique depends on the destruction of two human lives who had inherent dignity and rights and must be protected from their creation as persons in order to create a third embryo and life,” said John Sherrington, Lead Bishop for Life Issues for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference in England and Wales in 2023. “It also fractures the child from biological parenthood. It steps into the unknown world of genetic engineering with manipulation of the human germline.”
He added, “The gift of life… is a mystery which cannot be reduced to technical manipulation.”
Why It Matters:
Mitochondrial disease usually becomes evident in early childhood with developmental delays, and eventually it can lead to early death. The goal of MDT is to protect children from these health conditions, but it is not a method of healing or treatment.
While news reports claim MDT has allowed children to be “spared from devastating genetic diseases,” in reality, the original child who had the inherited health condition no longer exists.
Mitochondria affect personality, the likelihood of depression and bipolar disorder, and even a person’s mortality. MDT, therefore, destroys the lives of two people by melding them into one person, and the long-term effects remain unknown.
Of the eight children, all were said to be born ‘healthy,’ however, one developed a UTI, another developed muscle jerks, and a third developed high blood fat and a heart rhythm disturbance. Some had low levels of the intended mother’s mitochondria, but it is believed the levels are too low to cause disease.
Regardless, the children created in this experiment are still young, and the long-term effects on their health remain unknown.
MDT is the latest example of the eugenic and discriminatory side of the fertility industry, in which parents are able to pick and choose, manipulate, and destroy their children to build the children they want instead of the children they are given.
The Bottom Line:
IVF is an unethical process that involves the creation of surplus embryos, many of whom will be destroyed or frozen indefinitely. It’s part of the billion-dollar fertility industry that is fraught with controversy. Embryos are often lost, destroyed without consent, destroyed by accident, implanted in the wrong woman, or handed off for scientific experimentation.
With MDT, two human embryos are merged into one, completely altering the human person and treating them as a product on an assembly line rather human being worthy of dignity and respect. Children created using IVF have reported feeling like products rather than children, and MDT promises to add to the confusion and pain of the people created through these artificial processes.
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