CYIL vol. 9 (2018)

CYIL 9 ȍ2018Ȏ MITOCHONDRIAL REPLACEMENT THERAPY IN THE LIGHT OF THE CONVENTION… three persons, but the nuclear DNA only comes from the mother (the donor of an oocyte) and father (the donor of sperm). The child will be the same as it would have been without MRT, only without the mitochondrial disease. Therefore, the term “three-parent babies” is seriously misleading. From the perspective of its aim, MRT could be more aptly described as a replacement of cytoplasm with organelles. In many countries, MRT is illegal. As will be shown below, it is incompatible with the European Convention on Biomedicine. However, the United Kingdom – which has never ratified the Convention on Biomedicine – legalized it in 2015 as the first country in the world. 17 In 2017, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority gave the first licence to perform MRT 18 and approved two specific cases by the spring of 2018, so the first British child might be born with the use of MRT in 2018. 19 However, this will not be the world’s first “MRT baby”. Since the procedure is not regulated in many countries, the resulting legal vacuum attracts commercial clinics to destinations such as Mexico or Ukraine. In April 2016, the first baby was born after MRT in Mexico where the procedure was carried out by the New York based fertility centre team led by Dr. John Zhang. 20 Inheritance of mitochondrial DNA As a general rule, mitochondria - and therefore also mtDNA - are transmitted solely in a maternal line. All mtDNA in a human body is inherited from the individual’s mother. Mothers transmit their mtDNA to all of their children, while men’s mtDNA is not transmitted. The main reason lies in the effective processes of elimination of the sperm’s mtDNA in the embryo. The maternal inheritance of mtDNA is of extreme importance. A huge proportion of the ethical discussions related to MRT focuses on the safety issues of germline modification. Germline denotes those cells of a human body that will pass on their DNA onto the person’s descendants: therefore, germline consists of oocytes and sperms. The long-term effects of genetic modification are not yet empirically known and it is possible that some of the consequences might be manifested as late as several generations after the initial DNA modification. For these reasons, there is a relatively wide consensus that the risks of germline modification are not yet outweighed by its potential benefits. 21 The Convention on Biomedicine in its Article 13 prohibits germline modification. 2. 17 KELLAND, Kate, MACLELLAN, Kylie. Britain votes to allow the world’s first “three-parent” IVF babies. Reuters. (3 February 2015.) accessed 23 May 2018. 18 COOK, Michael. Three-parent babies green-lighted in the UK. BioEdge. (18 March 2017.) accessed 23 May 2018, LE PAGE, Michael. UK becomes first country to give go ahead to three-parent babies. New Scientist. (15 December 2016.) accessed 23 May 2018. 19 HAMZELOU, Jessica. First UK three-parent babies could be born this year. New Scientist. (2 February 2018.) accessed 23 May 2018. 20 HAMZELOU, Jessica. Exclusive: World’s first baby born with new “3 parent” technique. New Scientist. (27 September 2016.) accessed 23 May 2018. 21 See for example National Human Genome Research Institute. Genome Editing. (3 August 2017.) accessed 23 May 2018.

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