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Three-person IVF could move closer in UK Three-person IVF moves closer in UK
(about 1 hour later)
The UK could move a step closer to allowing the creation of babies from two women and a man later. The UK has moved closer to becoming the first country to allow the creation of babies from three people.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is to advise ministers and report on a public consultation and the latest advances in the field. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised the government that there is no evidence the advanced form of IVF is unsafe.
The three-person IVF technique could be used to prevent debilitating and fatal "mitochondrial" diseases. The fertility regulator's public consultation also showed "general support" for the idea as the benefits outweighed the risks.
But some groups have raised ethical and safety concerns about creating babies with DNA from three people. A final decision on whether to press ahead rests with ministers.
The babies would have DNA from two parents and a tiny amount from a third person. If the techniques were approved it help a handful of families each year. Around one in 6,500 children develop serious "mitochondrial disorders" which are debilitating and fatal.
Research suggests that using mitochondria from a donor egg can prevent the diseases.
However, it would result in babies having DNA from two parents and a tiny amount from a third donor.
Concerns have been raised both about the safety and the ethics of the techniques.
The results of a public consultation at the end of 2012 showed there was support for the idea.
Prof Neva Haites, who was on the expert panel supervising the consultation, said: "Broadly speaking the public was in favour of these novel techniques being translated into treatments.
"They felt that any ethical concerns were outweighed by potential benefits."
One of the main issues raised was of a "slippery slope" which could lead to other forms of genetic modification.
'Power stations''Power stations'
Baby after baby will die in some families due to faulty mitochondria. These are the tiny biological power stations that give energy to every cell of the body. Mitochondria are the tiny biological power stations that give energy to nearly every cell of the body.
Defects can leave the body starved of energy, resulting in muscle weakness, blindness, heart failure and death in the most extreme cases. About one in 200 children are born with some degree of defective mitochondria, although the symptoms are usually mild. Defects can leave the body starved of energy, resulting in muscle weakness, blindness, heart failure and death in the most extreme cases.
The cigar-shaped mitochondria are passed only from mother to child. A father does not pass on his mitochondria through his sperm.Three-person IVF could move closer The cigar-shaped mitochondria are passed only from mother to child. A father does not pass on his mitochondria through his sperm.
Scientists have devised techniques that allow them to take the genetic information from the mother and place it into the egg of a donor with healthy mitochondria. It is like taking two fried eggs and switching the yolks. Scientists have devised two techniques that allow them to take the genetic information from the mother and place it into the egg of a donor with healthy mitochondria. It is like taking two fried eggs and switching the yolks.
How would it work?How would it work?
However, this would create a baby with genetic information from three people, as mitochondria have their own genes in their own DNA.However, this would create a baby with genetic information from three people, as mitochondria have their own genes in their own DNA.
The implications are not just for the couple and the child. If the therapy was performed it would have ramifications through the generations as scientists would be altering human genetic inheritance.The implications are not just for the couple and the child. If the therapy was performed it would have ramifications through the generations as scientists would be altering human genetic inheritance.
The issue has been the subject of a public consultation run by the fertility watchdog, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. 'Recommendations'
The HFEA will not give an official recommendation to government. It will pass on the findings of the consultation and agree on its advice to ministers - on issues such as the legal status of the donor and how such treatment would need to be regulated - at an open meeting on Wednesday. The HFEA has advised that the any changes to the law should be only for the modification of mitochondria to overcome serious diseases and that there should still be a ban on changes to the main nuclear DNA, which contains the vast majority of a person's genetic code.
There will also be a report reviewing the latest scientific developments. It also recommended continuing research and that any children born through these techniques be monitored closely.
Making three-person IVF legal does not require a new act of Parliament, but would need a vote in both the Commons and the Lords. There was vigorous discussion at the HFEA Open Meeting, where the advice to ministers was agreed, around issues of identification. In sperm and egg donation the donor is identified.
'Uncharted territory' The meeting agreed to advise ministers that there should be no right for the child to know the identity of the donor, however, the HFEA will tell ministers that the issue is finely balanced.
At the beginning of the process, the chairwoman of the organisation, Prof Lisa Jardine, said: "It is genetic modification of the egg - that is uncharted territory. Once we have genetic modification, we have to be sure we are damn happy." Mr Hossam Abdalla, clinical director of the Lister Fertility Clinic in London, told the meeting: "If a child wants to know about that, why are we so restrictive... why are we telling them we they can't have this access?"
She said it was a question of "balancing the desire to help families have healthy children with the possible impact on the children themselves and wider society". Any time soon?
It is not the first time these issues have been discussed. A report by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics said the treatment was ethically OK, but the group Human Genetics Alert argues the procedure is unnecessary, dangerous and sets a precedent for genetically modified "designer" babies. These therapies using sperm and eggs from three people are not yet ready to be performed in the clinic. However, it is thought that scientists in the UK and the US are getting close to the point where it will be possible.
Dr David King, the director of Human Genetics Alert, said: "Just as Frankenstein's creation was produced by sticking together bits from many different bodies, it seems that there is no grotesquery, no violation of the norms of nature or human culture at which scientists and their bioethical helpers will balk." Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, part of the expert panel analysing the science, said there was "still no evidence to suggest the techniques are unsafe," but he said further experiments were needed for reassurance.
The HGA is concerned that eggs with abnormal mitochondria may have other problems in their nucleus. If the nucleus is transferred into a donor egg the resulting child may still be unhealthy. "Safety is absolutely not a black and white issue. In reproductive medicine in particular it is not possible to be absolutely certain about the consequences of any new treatment until children are born.
"Someone at some point is going to have to take the brave decision to go ahead with it."
The advice has been passed onto ministers.
Making three-person IVF legal does not require a new act of Parliament, but would require a vote in both the Commons and the Lords.
Speaking after the meeting Dr David King, the director of Human Genetics Alert, said: "Historians of the future will point to this as the moment when technocrats crossed the crucial line, the decision that led inexorably to the disaster of genetically engineered babies and consumer eugenics.
"This was the moment at which they casually tossed the bioethical consensus of the last 30 years into the trash. And for what?
"Not so mothers could avoid having sick babies, because they could do that already, through egg donation. It was so that a few dozen mothers who insisted they must be genetically related to their child could be satisfied."