Scientists could raise babies from three parents in two years

Does the headline of the news seem confusing to you? After all, as everyone knows, it only takes a father and a mother to raise a child, right? So what is this story of three people involved in the process? But before you start thinking about nonsense, know that we are talking about a new fertilization technique.

According to the BBC, this is a method that involves using the eggs of two women and one man's sperm to prevent babies being born with potentially deadly mitochondrial diseases. The idea is to use the material of the couple who wants to have children and the egg of a woman with healthy mitochondria.

Repairing the generators

Basically, mitochondria are small energy generators present inside every cell in the body, and are passed genetically only from mother to child. According to the BBC, one in 6, 500 babies is born with some serious dysfunction caused by mitochondrial problems.

As a result, these children's bodies do not have enough energy to function properly, and some related problems are blindness, muscle weakness, heart failure and death. To work around this problem, scientists have developed two ways to apply the new technique: embryo repair and egg repair.

Technique 1 and Technique 2

The first procedure involves fertilizing two eggs to create one parent and one donor embryo. Then the pronuclei - which contain the genetic information - are removed from both embryos, and only the parent's genetic material is retained. Then a healthy embryo is created by introducing the parent pronucleus into the donor embryo, which is finally implanted in the womb.

The second procedure is to collect eggs from a woman with mitochondrial problems and a healthy donor. The next step involves removing most of the genetic material from both eggs and finally introducing the mother's genetic material into the donor's egg and then fertilizing it with the sperm.

Controversy

According to researchers advocating the application of the new method, the UK fertilizer regulator has found no evidence that it is dangerous. In addition, if current regulations are revised - and allow the technique to be employed - researchers could begin raising babies with three parents within two years. And of course there are groups already campaigning against liberation.

To begin with, there is still a need for further testing before either procedure can be performed. This includes a more detailed study of the effectiveness of both methods, as well as a survey of the risks of transferring modified mitochondria to infants or subsequent generations. Also, until a healthy baby is born through the new technique, it is impossible to know for sure whether or not it is safe in humans.

The counter group also raised some ethical concerns. As they explained, if approved, the new technique could set precedents for genetic modification in humans. At the moment, although it is still awaiting the advice of a scientific committee to evaluate the new technique, the British government supports its application, based on the idea that many lives can be saved through it.