The United States stopped it from taking place here in 2002. But in New Jersey, 15 years ago, 17 babies were born via an In Vitro Fertilization process that included three parents. The procedure involves taking eggs from two women and injecting cytoplasm and mitochondria from the donor egg into the mother’s egg so that the baby inherits genetic material from three individuals. Such engineered babies are created so that mitochondrial diseases in the mother are not passed on to her children.
The 17 babies, now teenagers, are currently being sought for follow-up study as a British clinic plans to activate further IVF three-parent procedures and Parliament considers regulations or an outright ban.
How should elected officials or, more importantly, all us sort through our compassion toward those struggling with conception, and galloping scientific efforts that often race forward before we have given them adequate thought? Should science have an unlimited avenue for genetically engineering children? Where do we draw a line, because we can be sure that scientific advances will go far beyond just cytoplasmic transfer and mitochondrial donation. What is the ethical limit? What is the biological limit? What is the Christian limit?
The 17 babies, now teenagers, are currently being sought for follow-up study as a British clinic plans to activate further IVF three-parent procedures and Parliament considers regulations or an outright ban.
How should elected officials or, more importantly, all us sort through our compassion toward those struggling with conception, and galloping scientific efforts that often race forward before we have given them adequate thought? Should science have an unlimited avenue for genetically engineering children? Where do we draw a line, because we can be sure that scientific advances will go far beyond just cytoplasmic transfer and mitochondrial donation. What is the ethical limit? What is the biological limit? What is the Christian limit?