Concerns with Mitochondrial Replacement Essay

According to “The Ethics of Designer Babies” article, a process called “in vito fertilization” must be done before any genetic changes can be made. In this process, the mother’s mature eggs are retrieved from the ovaries and taken to a lab to be combined with sperm outside of the body. They are fertilized in a petri dish. This is the reason why they are sometimes referred to as test tube babies. After fertilization, the embryo is sent back into the mother’s uterus and a “third parent” comes into play. The third parent, or the donor, has his or her mitochondrial DNA inserted into the embryo, a process known as cytoplasmic transfer.

Infertility is the fundamental lacking of the ability to conceive a baby, and both men and women can have this problem. Dr. Clark, our guest speaker in class pointed out that approximately 30% of men and women are infertile, while 25% of infertility cannot be explain by science yet. Because of that, infertility is no longer considered as a lifestyle problem but a disease instead. According to Dr. Clark, one of the options for the infertility patients today is the use of stem cell therapies to treat infertility, and one of the recent popular stem cell therapies is reproductive cloning. Reproduction cloning is a process to “produce” a next generation of “you” through somatic cell nuclear transfer. In my paper, I will argue that

Picture a young couple in a waiting room looking through a catalogue together. This catalogue is a little different from what you might expect. In this catalogue, specific traits for babies are being sold to couples to help them create the "perfect baby." This may seem like a bizarre scenario, but it may not be too far off in the future. Designing babies using genetic enhancement is an issue that is gaining more and more attention in the news. This controversial issue, once thought to be only possible in the realm of science-fiction, is causing people to discuss the moral issues surrounding genetic enhancement and germ line engineering. Though genetic research can prove beneficial to learning how to prevent hereditary

For many people, the term “designer babies” sounds like something that could only exist in the novel, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. But, science has now advanced to the point where faulty genes can now be singled out, discarded, and replaced with more favorable ones. Just like the 16,012 babies manufactured in the Hatchery and Conditioning Centre in Brave New World, human embryos can be selected for fertilization based on their genes. This is done through the processes of in vitro fertilization (IVF) and preimplantation genetic diagnosis (PGD). This involves removing mature egg cells from a woman and fertilizing it with male sperm outside of the body. The embryos are then analyzed for abnormalities and mutations in the deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The healthiest embryos are then implanted back into the woman’s uterus for regular gestation (Yount). The development of these techniques originated from the Human Genome Project initiated by the United States government in 1988 (Siegel-Itzkovich). Although established initially with the purpose of selecting healthy embryos free of disease, the same techniques can be applied to select genes that code for traits such as intelligence, strength, and beauty. IVF and PGD are useful techniques but should only be used for medical purposes, not for selecting the embryos of perfect children.

The 21st century however forecasts an astonishing increase in innovation in another direction. While previously overshadowed by its larger cousins, physics and chemistry, it seems likely that the biological sciences will steal the limelight in the future. Mapping the genome, reversing the aging process, and finding a cure for terminal illnesses, all represent primary objectives for science. Unfortunately, the ethical questions posed by innovations in biomedicine are far greater than those posed by advances in the physical sciences. Reproductive cloning is one of these innovations, and one that arguably poses the greatest threat to the world as we know it. The universal truth, blindly accepted by man for millennia, held that a human could only be born through the sexual union of a male and a female, to be exact, of an egg and a sperm. By cloning, however, a human life can be created in the laboratory. This is done by taking human DNA and inserting it into an egg cell, sans genetic material. The resultant cell is identical to the original, and can then be inserted into a uterus, either a human or an animal one, and be grown to term, to produce a baby, while circumventing nature’s means of reproduction.

However, by using the same techniques to modify embryos in order to make the changes permanent, irreversible changes to future generations and to our common genetic heritage (the human germline) can cause many problems. There are known risks involved with producing this organism. The “bad” genes from the sperm and egg cells have the potential to wipe out diseases caused by the single mutations in

Day by day, an accretion of advancements and improvements are formed across the world. Prominent developments occur rapidly, like the use and creation of technology. Technology has and continues to create an immense effect on how we live our daily lives. Its use is ranged from how information is found, travel, communication, and more. However, the advancements of technology seems to interfere with the circle of natural life, life that is brought into our world. It has changed the lives of unborn children, whom are in the form of an embryo. Altered by a new technique and process of genetic modification, that is commonly referred to as “Designer Babies”. This genetic modification, genetically modifies the DNA of an embryo to achieve desirable traits amongst them. It changes an unborn babies development and future life. While it may seem that designer babies can be a positive life change, there are negative effects that outweigh, due to the fact that it goes against human nature; genetic probability, expectations, diversity, and religious prospects.

Other studies have proven that you can now prevent women from having a genetically mental child by taking “mitochondrial DNA out of eggs and replac[ing] them with healthy genes from eggs donated by other women” (Stein). Experts have not yet tried this on human embryos, but have on monkeys. This could lead to a child having three genetic parents due to the fact that the child would “inherit DNA from the father’s sperm; from the egg of the woman whose egg was fixed; and from the egg of the woman who donated some of her DNA to fix the problem” (Stein). Experiments like these could ultimately affect our future in many ways, both in a good way and bad way. Expert Ronald

The article “Three-parent babies: the argument for and against” written by Sarah Knapton states due the fact that the new technique called mitochondrial transfer can modify slightly the genome of next births, many opinions a favor and against of this method have been raised by ethical concerns. One of the argument a favor to the mitochondrial transfer is that it can benefit more than 2,500 mothers and 150 births a year. How the mitochondrial inheritance is through the mother, the transfer of mitochondria prevents of passing abnormal genes to the next generation in order to avoid mortal diseases, and the mitochondrial DNA is not more than 0.054 percentage without the nucleus of the cell. On the other hands, counter-arguments allege that children

The article Replacing the cell’s power plants by Eric A. Shoubridge discusses the DNA found within mitochondria. Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) differs from nuclear DNA as it is inherited from only the mother. However, the mtDNA can also contain mutations which, similar to the nuclear DNA, have the potential to cause severe complications. Due to the mtDNA being restricted to the mitochondria multiple approaches have been developed in effort to reduce or prevent the amount and effect of mtDNA mutations.

It’s no secret that many of us seek perfection. Now, scientists have pioneered a way for us to choose or genetically alter embryos, creating the “perfect” child. In heated ethical debates, bioethicists have argued for and against the practice of eugenics and Procreative Beneficence. Recently, medical professionals in the United Kingdom genetically engineered embryos that were prone to inherit a mitochondria disease. This event triggered differing opinions about the genetic manipulation of diseased genes. David Prentice, a lobbyist against eugenics, made the claim that this practice is followed by many ethical infractions. Others such as Art Caplan, director of the Center for Bioethics at the University of Pennsylvania, think of this process as progressive, creating a future of disease free children (Cox).

New technological advances and scientific methods continue to change the course of nature. One of the current controversial advances in science and technology is the use of genetically modified embryos in which the study exceeds stem cell research. Scientists have begun planning for research involving human embryos in the genetic modification field. Many technological developments are responsible for improving our living standards and even saving lives, but often such accomplishments have troubling cultural and moral ramifications (Reagan, 2015). We are already beyond the days in which virtually the only procreative option was for a man and a woman to conceive the old-fashioned way (Reagan, 2015). Genetic modification of human embryos can be perceived as a positive evolution in the medical process yet it is surrounded by controversy due to ethical processes. Because this form of genetic modification could affect later born children and their offspring, the protection of human subjects should be a priority in decisions about whether to proceed with such research (Dresser, 2004). The term Human Genetic Engineering was originally made public in 1970. During this time there were several methods biologists began to devise in order to better identify or isolate clone genes for manipulation in several species or mutating them in humans.

The ethical arguments for the use of germ line engineering largely centre around its therapeutic possibilities, and that it is therefore ethically appropriate to prevent children suffering from genetic diseases if we have the technology to do so. John Harris, a bioethicist and Manchester University says that “It is ethically imperative to positively support this technology” because “the human genome is not perfect” (Regalado, 2016). This

    Abstract: The cloning of human embryos has sparked a major debate worldwide. New cloning methods have surpassed the technology that could only duplicate specified genes or produce offspring from frozen mice and human embryos. Cloning has been used to free would-be sufferers from a particular disease carrying gene. Likewise, out of desire to assist infertile couples and overcome the drawbacks of using in-vitro fertilization, came the newest method of cloning. Although skepticism exists because of the lack of regulation and the extreme possibilities considered such as cloning for hair and eye color or for a particular gender, with proper regulation, researchers and doctors intend to embrace this

Reproductive and genetic technologies such as embryo screening prior to transfer would move from potential disease and genetic deficits to baby enhancement with minimal to no risk to the mother, thus allowing infertile couples to not only conceive, but further giving them the potential to achieve healthy and genetically sound babies (Schäfer, Baumann, & Kettner, 1996). Furthermore, technologies such as prenatal screenings, allow couples to make informed decisions on whether to terminate a genetically abnormal fetus keeping risk to the mother at a minimal and alleviating a burden not only to the parents, but society as a whole. Lastly, this technology provides advanced genetic knowledge that can allow for