New York Dr. John Zhang discovers a controversial technique that uses DNA from three parents to give birth to a child. American scientists based in Mexico have confirmed such DNA breakthrough Tuesday.
The said technology allows parents that have rare genetic mutations to have healthy babies. In addition thereto, while it is not still approved in the United States, it is somehow made legal in the whole of United Kingdom.
The boy's mother carries genes that has Leigh syndrome. This syndrome is a fatal disorder that affects the development of nervous system. Genes for the disease reside in DNA in the mitochondria. This is the part of the DNA which provides energy for our cells and carry just 37 genes that are passed down to us from our mothers.
While the baby's mother is healthy, Leigh syndrome was responsible for the deaths of her first two children. This is the time that the couple sought out the help of John Zhang and his team at the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City.
During the scientific act, Dr. Zhang and the other proponents used DNA from three individuals. Researchers were able to remove some of the mother's DNA from an egg and leave out the DNA which caused the disease. The healthy DNA was tripped into a donor's egg, which was then fertilized. Thus, the child inherited DNA from his two parents and the egg donor.
"To save lives is the ethical thing to do." Dr. Zhang of the New Hope Fertility Center in New York claimed, who led the team that carried out the technique.
Dr. Zhang's findings are more detailed and were published in the journal Fertility & Sterility. Thus, this scientific breakthrough has again brought another milestone in the field of human discoveries and learning. Although incidental, the discovery is still something new and somehow still subject also for humankind acceptance and judgment.
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