When the first baby born using a controversial procedure that meant he had three genetic parents was born back in 2016, it made headlines. The baby boy inherited most of his DNA from his mother and father, but he also had a tiny amount from a third person.
The idea was to avoid having the baby inherit a fatal illness. His mother carried genes for a disease in her mitochondria. Swapping these with genes from a donor—a third genetic parent—could prevent the baby from developing it. The strategy seemed to work. Now clinics in other countries, including the UK, Greece, and Ukraine, are offering the same treatment. It was made legal in Australia last year.
By Ian Sample and Hannah Devlin, The Guardian | 03.06.2023
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The next generation of advanced genetic therapies raises profound medical and ethical issues that must be thrashed out to ensure the game-changing technology benefits patients and society, a group of world-leading experts has warned.
By Letlhokwa George Mpedi, Daily Maverick | 03.15.2023
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In his 2021 novelKlara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro painted a disturbing picture of a world where gene editing has become commonplace and carefully outlined the detrimental impact this has on family dynamics, society and the economy...
In 2018, during the Second International Summit on Human Genome Editing in Hong Kong, Jiankui He shocked the world by announcing the birth of two children whose genomes he had edited using CRISPR technology. Following widespread condemnation and a criminal...
