Three Parents and a Baby - Scientists Advise Caution with Regard to Artificial Insemination Method
By Health Canal,
Health Canal
| 06. 18. 2014
The approval of a new treatment method by which three parents will be able to beget a child is being discussed since a few years in Great Britain and will possibly become a reality in two years. The method is supposed to help in eliminating the mother's genetic defects already in the test tube.
The defect lies in so-called mitochondria, the "power houses" of cells. To get rid of defective mitochondria the nucleus of one egg cell has to be transferred to another egg cell bearing intact mitochondria. Scientists at the Vetmeduni Vienna show for the first time that even a few defective mitochondria dragged along in the transfer could cause diseases. The results were published in Cell Reports.
Mitochondria are cell organelles located within animal and human cells. They produce energy for the organism, possess their own genetic material - mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) - and are transmitted exclusively by the mother. Depending on their activity and tasks, different numbers of mitochondria are present in a cell - usually a few hundred to a thousand per body cell.
Inherited mitochondrial...
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The Center for Genetics and Society is delighted to recommend the current edition of GMWatch Review – Number 589. UK-based GMWatch, a long-standing ally, was founded in 1998 by Jonathan Matthews as an independent organization seeking to counter the enormous corporate political power and propaganda of the GMO industry and its supporters. Matthews and Claire Robinson are its directors and managing editors.
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Baby bonuses. Motherhood medals. Fertility tracking. You may have heard of these policy proposals as solutions from the Trump administration to help encourage women to have more children.
Besides falling short of ensuring that people have what they need...