The UK's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has already approved research that would involve human cloning for non-reproductive purposes. Recently, according to The Register, an application that builds on that one was accepted, in which researchers will attempt to create an embryo that contains DNA from not one, not two, but three different people.
Turns out some diseases, such as muscular dystrophy, are triggered by defective genes in the maternal mitochondrial (extra-nuclear) DNA. By transplanting the healthy nucleus into a new, healthy egg, researchers hope they can eliminate these diseases--while still maintaining the "real parenthood" of good old Mom and Dad.
Missing in the dicsussion is the question, where in the world will all these eggs come from?
Read more here.
Friday, September 09, 2005
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2 comments:
Yes, thanks for the clarification re parenthood on this scenario--didn't mean to imply that the mDNA swap would make an additional parent.
Your comment about the rarity of the conditions for which this technique might be helpful raises another couple of questions: how much effort and money should we spend to develop technological solutions to very rare diseases, in light of other healthcare spending priorities? And how much public funding should be spent to research treatments whose eventual use would be limited to those with the ability to pay for them? (Given that insurance generally doesn't cover IVF procedures, etc.)
Re the egg donation issue, I'm concerned about the presumption that there's an unlimited supply of human ova, and that the getting of same is wholly unproblematic.
Thanks for stopping by!
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