(UK) Fertility regulator to consult public over plans for 'GM babies'

[alp227]

The government's fertility regulator has launched a public consultation to gauge people's attitudes towards controversial new medical procedures designed to avoid serious genetic diseases.

The techniques are contentious because they produce IVF embryos that carry DNA from both parents and a healthy female donor, and use a form of genetic modification that passes the donor's DNA on to future generations.

British law prohibits such genetic modification of embryos, but the legislation may be rewritten as early as next year after a parliamentary debate that will be informed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority's consultation.

About 12,000 people in Britain live with diseases caused by glitches in the genetic material held inside tiny powerplants called mitochondria that sit within most cells. The DNA in mitochondria controls how cells make and use energy, while a person's appearance and other characteristics are influenced by the genetic material locked up in the cell nucleus.

full: http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2012/sep/17/genetics-embryo-dna-mitochondrial-disease

article included a video by the Wellcome Trust "Healing Broken Batteries"

[Trillo]

1. It's interesting that test tube babies may contain the genes of three people

('''''''only for the purposes of disease management''''''') but three people may not get married.

Do you suppose, for money's sake, its not possible to genetically engineer into humans the gene to make vitamin C? I mean, think of all the vitamin companies it would negatively impact.