Scientists have already experimented with combining genetic material from cells of three people. In 2001, researchers in New Jersey did so using material from the cytoplasm, the material that surrounds the nucleus of the egg and directs its development after fertilization, from fertile women into the eggs of infertile women. More than 17 babies have been born this way in the United States.
The practice raised questions and eventually led the F.D.A. to tell researchers that they could not perform such procedures in humans without getting special permission from the agency. Since then, studies have been confined to animals.
But a researcher in Oregon, Shoukhrat Mitalipov, has performed the mitochondrial procedure in monkeys and has said that it is ready to be tried in people.
This is much more interesting than reading the rumor mongering surrounding the PB’s invitation to Nashotah. The title will probably be confusing to most readers as we think of a fertilized egg as having genetic material from two people which is the usual situation. Most people don’t understand that mitochondria have their own genetic material which is not part of the genome in the nucleus. Such experiments putting a nucleus from one animal into another egg that has its nucleus removed have been done for awhile (decades) in lower animals (starfish). It has been done in humans recently (2001) but the FDA has stepped in and said- no can do. Only to be done in animals- no human embryos can be used. Now researchers think the procedure is ready to be done with human trials.
Why do this procedure anyway? Well because there are serious genetic diseases in which involve defective mitochondria. These diseases cause tremendous disability and if there were a way to replace the defective mitochondria with normal mitochondria, that could lead to a way to *cure* these diseases.
This procedure does raise serious ethical questions but so few people even understand why these procedures would be even done that I am afraid the ethical questions will be lost in generalizations that have nothing to do with the actual procedure or the reasoning behind them.
If I were on this committee, I would want to know more about the health of the 17 babies that have been born already. The technique is interesting and possibly could resolve some genetic diseases but is that enough to go ahead with the procedure??