G M babies.. FrankenBabies

Disease-free designer babies with DNA from three parents 'could be here within three years'

By Fiona Macrae
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1024262/Disease-free-designer-babies-DNA-parents-years.html

Pioneers: Tracey Hobbs and Peter Wills with Ethan
Designer babies with three parents could be born in Britain within three years.

The controversial technique screens an embryo created by a man and a woman for incurable genetic diseases.

Any defective DNA is then replaced with that from another woman - effectively giving the baby two mothers and a father.

Scientists at Newcastle University have already created embryos using the method and are perfecting it for use in IVF clinics.

They say it could free children from diseases including some forms of diabetes, blindness and heart problems.

But critics say this could lead to genetically-modified babies being designed to order.

The law states embryos created using the technique must be destroyed, although the scientists hope this can be overturned.

The research focuses on mitochondria - 'batteries' inside cells which turn food into energy.

Each mitochondrion has its own DNA which is passed from mother to child. Defects in this DNA affect more than one in 5,000 babies and cause around 50 genetic diseases, some of which kill before adulthood.

The researchers have managed to swop the damaged DNA with healthy genetic material.

The first step is fertilisation of an egg through IVF. The resulting embryo is then screened for defects.



When it is a few hours old the nucleus - which contains the genetic information from the parents - is removed and put into another woman's healthy egg.

As mitochondria are outside the nucleus, when the baby is born it will be free of defects and look like its 'real' parents.

The law states any embryos created in this way must be destroyed by 14 days. But some argue that updated regulations currently passing through Parliament could leave the door open for the law to be revisited.

Professor Jonathan Van Blerkom, a biologist in the U.S., told the magazine New Scientist it would be 'criminal' not to allow the technique to be used.

However, there are fears that the influence of mitochondria on areas including longevity, IQ and fertility could lead to the research being used to create GM babies to order.

The breakthrough comes after a British couple, Tracey Hobbs and Peter Wills, used a different screening technique called pre-implantation genetic diagnosis to free their son Ethan from a genetic disorder.

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I just post the stories, for interest.. for everyone

Lord, what fools these mortals be!
- A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act III, Scene ii

Voltaire said: "Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities."

H.L.Mencken wrote:"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.”

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former. Albert Einstein

This is just sick. What is it about, wanting your own DNA replica or that perfect, flawless designer baybee?

The breeding practices of today are not "parenting" at all.

As a person who which visual issues this is insulting and very creepy in a Third Reich sort of way,yep I said it.I hate to break it to the parunts....you can do all the gene tampering you want but you can still have an "imperfect" child.Try being born three months early,how does all that money blown on gene therapy help you now?Would they toss that "imperfect" baby aside,even though the problems are often with the breeder parunt's biology?

I take things like this personally,because my Mother wanted me very much,even with my "defects".Isn't that what makes a PNB?I guess they are getting society one step closer to the cookie cutter world soccer Moo suburbia...blech.

mercurior Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> But critics say this could lead to
> genetically-modified babies being designed to
> order.

"Could" lead? It WILL lead! This is just sick and you know they'll all be lining up for this.

It sounds very expensive and I doubt the average person could afford it.

Embryo screening for diseases is done every day now, though.

Oh Casseyrod, don't you know?

This will be next benefit that insurance companies will start to carry for all the breeders.

Paid for, of course, by all the people who won't be using any of the breeder-type of insurance coverage such as obstetrics visits, the birth itself, well-baybee visits, IVF, etc.

Hell, even the welfare ticks should have access to this type of service. (sarcasm off)

And I just LOVE how it's OK to screen embryos for disease and discard the "imperfect" ones yet abortion is so awful.

I don't think insurance companies should cover IVF unless they can guarantee full coverage for people with cancer and those who are terminally ill.

I'd hate to see someone who is seriously ill go without medicine they need, while someone else can do unlimited IVFs with full coverage.

Some people keep wanting more and more kids. I know a woman right now who had 3 children, then did IVF to get baby #4. Then did fertility drugs and is pregnant with triplets now. And you know what? I don't think she will stop at this. I think she will keep doing it. That is what is scary. And no, her and her spouse can't really afford such a large family. It will be only a matter of time before they are demanding that others help them out financially. Since she's having multiples, I'm expecting to get a phone call any day now from someone I know, asking me to pitch in money to buy them a triplet stroller or triplet crib or something like that. I don't want to help her out because she chose the situation she is in.