Three-Parent Embryos: Medical World Falls Out Over Eggs, Cells and Terminology

Shoukhrat Mitalipov has earned a global reputation as a superb experimentalist able to perform procedures on eggs and embryos that have defied many of his peers. Born in the Soviet Union, in what is now Kazakhstan, and trained in Moscow, Dr Mitalipov, 53, emigrated to the United States in the mid-1990s. Since then he has created shock-waves around the world with his prowess in the manipulation of eggs and embryos.

He now intends to use mitochondrial donation as a treatment for age-related infertility, providing he receives approval for clinical trials.

For many this is confusing, and the reason has much to do with how the scientific terminology surrounding this technique has been subtly manipulated over recent years to make it more publicly acceptable.

Mitochondrial donation is also known as mitochondrial transfer, and...