Clones and three parent babies: crossing an ethical line
(Vatican Radio) Do people in Britain want to see genetically modified babies such
as children being born with two genetic mothers? This is essentially the question
at the heart of an ongoing government consultation over whether to allow two possible
techniques intended to eliminate mitrochondrial diseases through genetic engineering
of embryos. One of the techniques would result in babies being born with three genetic
parents, the so-called three-parent IVF. The other technique being considered is
a form of cloning that involves the destruction of two human embryos. Dr Helen
Watt of the Anscombe Catholic Bioethics Centre in Britain spoke to Vatican Radio’s
Susy Hodges about the ethical implications arising from these two proposed techniques.
Listen to the extended interview with Helen Watt:
Dr Watt says
the two proposed techniques are essentially all about "genetically modified babies."
In the case of the second proposed technique, known as PNT, Watt describes this as
the most alarming in terms of the ethical implications involved. The reason for
this, she explains, is because the baby who would be born "has no parents ... and
is composed of two deliberately destroyed embryos and is a clone of the first embryo."
Watt
says in the case of the first proposed technique (known as MST), "we're fragmenting
genetic parenthood: "These babies will not even have a full genetic mother", she says
and in effect the baby would have three parents, the spindle mother, the egg mother
and the father.
According to Dr Watt another alarming implication about
both these techniques is that it would mark the first time UK scientists would be
permitted deliberately to alter the genes that would be passed on to future generations
, something which is known as the "germline."
When asked if she believes the
two proposed techniques will eventually be approved, Watt replies: "I fear it may
well go through but that may depend on the number of people who write to state their
objections" ... to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. Britain, she
says, "is very permissive when it comes to both embryonic experimentation and fertility
treatment."