THIS JUST IN: On Tuesday, February 3, 2015, just a couple days ago, genetics research made history. After a favorable free vote in parliament, Great Britain is on its way to legalizing something truly ground-breaking. No, not marijuana, that’s another debate. The answer is three-parent babies.

Now, why in the world would someone want three parents? I mean that’s just one extra person telling you to make your bed, clean your room, and debate every life choice you ever made. Not to mention all the relatives you would have to visit over break.

And how is this even possible?

Brace yourselves, I am going to get a bit technical here, but only for a brief moment, I promise. Just stay with me and we can get through this together. Here we go:

The reason someone might want a third parent lies in the mitochondria. For those of you who don’t know, the mitochondria are small compartments inside nearly all of your cells. They are the little energy factories inside of you, converting food into usable energy so your cells can carry out basic functions. Your mitochondria are quite advanced and come with their own set of DNA called mtDNA. This mitochondrial DNA is inherited directly from your mother’s genome (Thanks Mom!), so any mitochondrial defects she might have will be present in your mitochondria.

Mitochondrial defects can have a range of consequences including muscle wasting, heart failure, blindness, and death (Gallagher, 2015). According to recent studies in Great Britain, approximately 1 in every 3,500 people live with a mitochondrial mutation (Taylor and Turnbull, 2007). These mutations include Alper’s Disease, Barth Syndrome, Leigh’s Disease, Mitochondria Cytopathy, Pearson Syndrome, and many more (UMDF, 2015).

These conditions are obviously a serious problem, but how does defying the laws of nature and subjecting new generations of children to three parents solve the issue?

Because mutations in the mtDNA are inherited solely from the mother, the idea is to eliminate inherited diseases from your maternal side by injecting a parents nucleus (containing all the non-mitochondrian DNA) into a donor embryo or egg with healthy mitochondria (See figure 1). However, don’t worry about Mother’s Day becoming an awkward holiday, just because a donor parent is supplying the embryo and mitochondria, the DNA that was injected from the primary parents will still be dominant in the appearance of the child and the donor is required by law to remain anonymous.

While the bill has yet to pass the House of Lords, Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison, told the House: “This is a bold step for parliament to take, but it is a considered and informed step” (Gallagher, 2015)

This is indeed a bold step, but not just for parliament. Although the concept is quite beautiful and there have been several documented successes regarding the procedure, the penalties could be severe if something were to go wrong. For instance, just like mitochondrial defects are always passed down on the maternal side, anyone with this man-made alteration to their DNA will pass the same genetic code to their offspring. Thus, if complications should arise due to genetic malfunctions, that person’s offspring will also suffer the same consequences (Taylor, 2015).

As you can imagine, this has sparked much debate regarding the ethics of genetics. Ordinarily, before any procedure is done, especially one of this magnitude, the doctor must obtain the consent of the patient. However, it is difficult to understand the wants and desires of a young, barely formed embryo making some wonder if it is immoral to subject these future humans to genetic alteration before their time. In addition, gene therapy of this nature is still a new and mysterious field with many unknowns. Even if this technology helps some people in the short term, there is no way to say with certainty that side-effects won’t arise later in life.

Lastly, one major concern is: where are we going? Great Britain may soon legalize one form of embryonic mitochondrial gene therapy. Perhaps in a few years, they will legalize other forms of gene therapy. Are we entering an age where our appearances, our talents, and abilities will all be determined before we even see the light of day? If history is any indication of human nature, we rarely stop at good enough.

Nevertheless, for better or worse, Great Britain is preparing to embark on a grand genetic experiment; one that many nations and research institutes will be watching very closely in the upcoming years. Will the techniques that they develop become the standard for the future? Only time will tell.

Works Cited:
1. Gallagher, James. “Crucial Vote on Three-person Babies.” BBC News. 3 Feb. 2015. Web. http://www.bbc.com/news/health-31069173
2. Taylor, Rebecca. “Britain’s Scary “Brave New World:” Parliament Allows Three-Parent Embryos.” LifeNews.com. N.p., 4 Feb. 2015. Web. http://www.lifenews.com/2015/02/04/britains-scary-brave-new-world-parliament-allows-three-parent-embryos/
3. Taylor, Robert W., and Doug M. Turnbull. “MITOCHONDRIAL DNA MUTATIONS IN HUMAN DISEASE.” Nature Reviews. Genetics. U.S. National Library of Medicine, 4 Jan. 2007. Web. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1762815/
4. “Types of Mitochondrial Diseases.” United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation (UMDF), 2015. Web. http://www.umdf.org/site/pp.aspx?c=8qKOJ0MvF7LUG&b=7934629