There is no doubt that once a society accepts the separation
of the unitive from the procreative aspect of sexuality it opens the door for
other abuses.
The abuses associated with in vitro fertilization (IVF) industry are well
documented see my BLOG posts of February 18th 2010, August 3rd2010, February 14, 2011 and November 29th 2011.
Recent media headlines take this to an entirely new level by referring to the bringing into being of three parent babies and
suggest that this is not only a possibility but simply a matter of time, it
also suggests that a recent UK survey reveals support for this kind radical IVF
therapy and that Mitochondrial replacement could help families at risk of a
certain class of genetic disorders.
Most people in the UK, according to the reports, would be
happy to see the law changed to allow a radical form of gene therapy on the IVF
embryos of women in danger of passing on mitochondrial disease to their babies
– a potentially severe and fatal metabolic disorder.
An exhaustive survey of public attitudes to the replacement
of an affected mother’s mitochondria – the tiny “power packs” of cells – with
those from an egg donor has found widespread support for the technique.
A series of public consultations on mitochondrial
replacement, which will result in IVF babies effectively inheriting genetic
information from three biological parents, has found that most people would
support its legalisation in order to help families at risk of the genetic
disorder.
“We’ve found that there is broad support for permitting
mitochondria replacement to give families at risk of mitochondrial disease the
chance of having a healthy child,” said Professor Lisa Jardine, the chair of
the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), which was charged by
the Government to investigate public attitudes to the technique.
“Although some people have concerns about the safety of
these techniques, we found that they trust the scientific experts and the
regulator to know when it is appropriate to make them available to patients,”
Professor Jardine said.
David King, director of the pressure group Human Genetics
Alert, criticised the HFEA for ignoring the potential risks associated with the
technique, which has had only limited testing on laboratory animals and is not
medically practised anywhere in the world.
“These techniques go far beyond anything existing in both
invasiveness to the embryo and complexity so it’s not surprising that they pose
serious health risks to the child, risks that the HFEA refuses to properly
address,” Dr King said.
Mitochondrial replacement involves fusing the egg-cell
nucleus of the affected mother with an egg cell from an unaffected donor. The
donor egg has its own nucleus and its complement of chromosomes removed, but
retains the donor’s healthy mitochondria – which have their own DNA to control
energy use within the cell.
