Ethics of GM Babies Now Being Discussed at the Request of FDA

So the FDA recently asked the THE NATIONAL ACADEMIES OF SCIENCES, ENGINEERING, AND MEDICINE to create a panel to study the ethics of utilizing Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques to prevent the transmission of certain diseases/defects on to the child.

Mitochondrial replacement techniques (MRT) are designed to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) diseases from mother to child. These diseases vary in presentation and severity, but common symptoms include developmental delays, seizures, weakness and fatigue, muscle weakness, vision loss, and heart problems, leading to morbidity and in some cases premature death. The goal of MRT is to prevent the transmission of these serious diseases by creating an embryo with nuclear DNA (nDNA) from the intended mother and mtDNA from a woman with nonpathogenic mtDNA through modification of either an oocyte (egg) or zygote (fertilized egg). Two techniques were considered by the committee – maternal spindle transfer (MST) which involves manipulation of oocytes and pronuclear transfer (PNT) which involves manipulation of zygotes. If effective, MRT could satisfy the desire of women seeking to have a genetically related child without the risk of passing on mtDNA disease, yet the techniques raise ethical, social, and policy issues.

At the request of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine recently assembled an expert committee to consider the ethical, social, and policy issues raised by the techniques and to address the foundational question of whether it is ethically permissible for clinical investigations of MRT to proceed. The final report, Mitochondrial Replacement Techniques: Ethical, Social, and Policy Considerations, provides an ethical analysis of ethical, social, and policy issues surrounding MRT. While significant ethical, social, and policy considerations are associated with MRT, the most germane of these issues can be avoided through limitations on the use of MRT or are blunted by meaningful differences between the heritable genetic modification introduced by MRT and heritable genetic modification of nDNA. Therefore, the committee concluded that it is ethically permissible to conduct clinical investigations of MRT. To ensure that clinical investigations of MRT were performed ethically, however, certain conditions and principles would need to govern the conduct of clinical investigations and potential future implementation of MRT.

Well you know, I guess eliminating diseases and defects should be a good thing, right? Allegedly, there was already an experiment that created 30 GM babies in the late nineties, who should have already graduated high school.

Report: First Genetically Altered Babies

Researchers in New Jersey claim that 30 human babies might have been born with genes from three people: their mother, their father — and a third person, whose genes were added in the laboratory.

The researchers call their experiment "the first case of human … genetic modification resulting in normal healthy children."

The team at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St. Barnabas in West Orange, N.J. was trying to help infertile women become pregnant.

In each of the 30 cases, something in the mother's egg had prevented her from conceiving naturally. So St. Barnabas researchers extracted material from cells donated by a third woman.

This additional material from the donor's cell somehow allowed the egg to become fertile.

Their first success of having a child born with this cellular transfer technique was published in a medical journal in 1997. But an analysis of the genetic consequences of the method in two babies was only reported in March, in the journal Human Reproduction. DNA tests on two of them show they have a small number of genes that are not from their parents.

The genetic status of the other 28 babies is unknown.

Hmm, why does that last line leave me thinking of this?

My position, well I guess I would have to admit to being a hypocrite if I said I would like to see where this goes with further research, but am against GM agrifood

Thank you InfoWars for bringing it to my attention though

a reply to: AmericanRealist

Ethics of GM Babies Now Being Discussed at the Request of FDA

I reckon this will definitely get legalized in order to make legal and cover up what they have been doing for the last 10 or 20 years for milittree purposes anyway.

Read up on super soldiers.

If hybrid aliens walk among us then they have to keep up don't they?

And some ATS past threads on the subject

World's first GM babies born
Chinese scientists genetically modify human embryos
Genetically engineering 'ethical' babies is a moral obligation, says Oxford professor
Cheap Fast Powerful Gene-Editing Will Soon Change the World
Proposed Treatment To Fix Genetic Diseases Raises Ethics Issues

a reply to: Domo1

I am curious to discover what came of the 28 other subject in the New Jersey procedures. Hopefully congress at some point in the near future will be able to get a head start drafting legislation on the definitions and justifications of this technology. Perhaps so that the procedures are only done (if ever approved) to eliminate diseases, and not necessarily for super strength, advanced intelligence, or cosmetic purposes.

Imagine two parents of one skin color paying to have their own child born the opposite?? That would be an interesting social experiment.

I'm normally against anything GMO or engineered in that way but this topic reminds me of a friend who chose to remain childless because of a genetic disease.She's in her 60's and it has only started causing her real trouble about a decade or 15 years ago.However she will propably be totally wheelchair-bound within one or latest 2 more years.

So sad,she has still the spirit of energy and fun of a young girl and as a loving,kind person would have made a terrific mom.

I think in such cases this tech could help folks like her who got dealt a cruel blow by fate.

originally posted by: AmericanRealist
a reply to: Domo1

Imagine two parents of one skin color paying to have their own child born the opposite?? That would be an interesting social experiment.

I am also curious to see this.
But I beleive soon it will appear more and more

It should very well be asked, researched,and much more as caution first off to make sure it doesn't cause problems more so even if it cures some. Is it worth the risk. Socially there will be issues as well. However, the FDA asking leaves a bad taste as to honesty.