Eugenics. Making us better.

[11B4V]

Brits May Create Babies With DNA From 3 People

LONDON (AP) — Britain may allow a controversial technique to create babies using DNA from three people, a move that would help couples avoid passing on rare genetic diseases, the country's top medical officer says.

The new techniques help women with faulty mitochondria, the energy source in a cell, from passing on to their babies defects that can result in such diseases as muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, heart problems and mental retardation. About one in 200 children is born every year in Britain with a mitochondrial disorder.

For a woman with faulty mitochondria, scientists take only the healthy genetic material from her egg or embryo. They then transfer that into a donor egg or embryo that still has its healthy mitochondria but has had the rest of its key DNA removed. The fertilized embryo is then transferred into the womb of the mother.

Some groups oppose artificial reproduction techniques and believe the destruction of eggs or embryos to be immoral. British tabloids jumped on the procedure when it was first announced in 2008 and labeled it the creation of a three-parent baby — the mother, the donor and the father — a charge scientists claim is inaccurate because the amount of DNA from the donor egg is insignificant.

"Scientists have developed ground-breaking new procedures which could stop these diseases being passed on," Britain's chief medical officer, Dr. Sally Davies, said in a statement on Friday. "It's only right that we look to introduce this life-saving treatment as soon as we can."

Similar research is going on in the U.S., where the embryos are not being used to produce children.

Earlier this year, the U.K.'s fertility regulator said it found most people supported the new in vitro fertilization methods after a public consultation that included hearings and written submissions. Critics have previously slammed the methods as unethical and say there are other ways for people with genetic problems to have healthy children, like egg donation or tests to screen out potentially problematic embryos.

In a response to the public consultation, the charity Christian Medical Fellowship said the techniques were unethical. "We do not consider that the hunt for 'therapies' that might prevent a small number of disabled children (with mitochondrial disease) being born justifies the destruction of hundreds if not thousands of embryonic human lives," the group said. It also said there were lingering concerns about the safety of the techniques.

British law forbids altering a human egg or an embryo before transferring it into a woman, so such treatments are currently only allowed for research. The government says it plans to publish draft guidelines later this year before introducing a final version to be debated in the U.K. Parliament next year. Politicians would need to approve the use of the new techniques before patients could be treated.

If British lawmakers agree, the U.K. would become the first country in the world where the technique could be used to create babies. Experts say the procedures would likely only be used in about a dozen women every year.

"Many of these (mitochondrial) conditions are so severe that they are lethal in infancy, creating a lasting impact upon the child's family," said Alistair Kent, director of the charity, Genetic Alliance U.K., in a statement. "An added option for families at risk of having a child with such a condition is welcome."

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2013/06/28/britain-embryo-techniques/2471139/

KAHN!

[Richard Hakluyt]

Seemed to work fine for Gilgamesh.........though no happy ending 

[Eddie Teach]

Are the British babies going to be: MIGHTIER THAN THE BULL OF ANU

[Agelastus]

KAHN!

I don't think that's how you spell "khan" in this instance.

[CountDeMoney]

lol, memebomb: premature detonation.

[Caliga]

[CountDeMoney]

Cal, do you have a separate hamper for socks and poo-poo undies?

[Ed Anger]

I am interested. 

[Syt]

Meanwhile, the Israelis are working feverishly on Jewgenics.

[Queequeg]

If it can kill Tay-Sachs and a whole host of other genetic diseases it sounds worthwhile.

[Josquius]

Some groups oppose artificial reproduction techniques and believe the destruction of eggs or embryos to be immoral.

These groups are retards.
If you're going to oppose it at least take a  rational route that  the kid might not come out right, cloning technology is still in a pretty early not safe for humans stage, etc...
But oh well. I would rather they ineffectually scream about god than use arguments that might work.

[11B4V]

Some groups oppose artificial reproduction techniques and believe the destruction of eggs or embryos to be immoral.

These groups are retards

Usually religious retards to boot.

[Viking]

Eugenics - it doesn't mean what you people seem to think it means.

Eugenics came about at a time when the only means of genetic manipulation was breeding and culling. It selected winners and selected away losers. Eugenecists arbitrarily defined certain characteristics as being more fit and then prevented competition from other competing characteristics. The Eugenecists thought they knew who would win and thus picked winners to prevent this messy red in tooth and claw competition that evolution had always been. Evolution is smarter than you are. We know what happened when Hayekian Socialists started picking winners in business and the same result will come of Eugenics.

It's when you don't let the unmodified humans compete on a level playing field with the modified ones that evil happens.

[11B4V]

Eugenics - it doesn't mean what you people seem to think it means.

I misspelled Khan. What on earth would give you the idea that I knew what Eugenics really was? Other than the Star Trek references.

 

[Viking]

Eugenics - it doesn't mean what you people seem to think it means.

I misspelled Khan. What on earth would give you the idea that I knew what Eugenics really was? Other than the Star Trek references.

I didn't I just felt the need to point out that Eugenics doens't mean what most people think it means. It's not about design, it's about deciding what is good and bad and cutting the bad out.