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Three Parents Technique: UK Approves Technique to Make a Baby From Two Women & One Man

Three Parents Technique: UK Approves Technique to Make a Baby From Two Women & One Man

The United Kingdoms fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority, has agreed to carry out a treatment that will make it possible for babies to be made from two women and a man. This is following a decision made in December to have the technique used.

This is technique is set to be tested by a clinic at Newcastle University.

It is known as Mitochondrial (an organelle in the cytoplasm of cells that functions in energy production) donation. This type of fertilization technique involves replacing a faulty mitochondria inherited from one mother with the healthy mitochondria of another woman as a way of preventing mitochondrial disease from being passed on to a child. CNN reports that the mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother through her eggs. If the mother’s mitochondrial DNA is faulty, it is very likely that she may pass on a number of rare but serious mitochondrial diseases, including muscle weakness, diabetes, heart problems, epilepsy and stroke-like episodes which may lead to death.

Newcastle’s Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research, which has been a leading partner in the project, released a statement saying that about 1 in 6,500 children are thought to develop a serious mitochondrial disorder.
“From the first proof of concept studies to today, there has been an excellent, independent regulatory process which consulted patients and the public at every stage. Now we must give the first patients and their doctors the time and space to discuss the next steps with the patience, sensitivity and scientific rigor that they have displayed throughout.” said Dr. Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust.
The UK will probably not be the first country to have children born through the three-person technique.
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