Modified humans by Claudia Sonea

If technology makes me squeak of wonder and amazement, medical science makes me shriek in fear. How would you react at the news that human embryos containing DNA from two women and a man was created by some British scientists who arguments their actions with the purpose of one day to be able to produce embryos free of inherited diseases. It is not for no reason that the preliminary research raised concerns about the possibility of genetically modified babies. Still, scientists say that the embryos are only primarily the product of one man and one woman and according to Patrick Chinnery, a professor of neurogenetics at Newcastle University involved in the research, their goal is not to alter genes, but to fix the flaws causing diseases. The research, supported financially by The Muscular Dystrophy Campaign, a British charity, was not presented in any Journal yet, but it was released at a conference recently. Taking a look inside the process, they say that the gene that they want to replace is the mitochondria, a cell's energy source, which is contained in a normal female egg and whose mistakes in the genetic code can result in serious diseases like muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, strokes and mental retardation. Chinnery and colleagues used normal embryo created from one man and one woman that had defective mitochondria in the woman's egg and transplanted it into an emptied egg donated from a second woman who had healthy mitochondria. This process does not involve tempering with what is inside the nucleus and makes us what we are, they say. Until now 10 such embryos have been created, but they have not been allowed to develop for more than five days. Chinnery hopes that after further experiments in the next few years the process might be available to parents undergoing in-vitro fertilization and who might deal with unexpected diseases. Francoise Shenfield, a fertility expert with the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology, and who was not connected to the Newcastle University research is totally supporting Chinnery and in Japan similar experiments have been conducted and has already led to the birth of healthy mice who had their mitochondria genes corrected.However, further tests must be made in order to be completely sure about the process. If it will have benefic results, proving that it really works a bill to allow the procedure to be regulated as a therapy for couples is expected to be discussed in Britain's House of Commons in March.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080205/ap_on_sc/embryo_research;_ylt=AmD3GXHupFb7Mxfet.4vAcWs0NUE

by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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Edited by: Katarina Bosanska