Lord Winston accuses UK government of 'spin' over GM babies

[Blobbenstein]

Lord Winston, the professor and eminent medical doctor has accused the British Government of wrongly defining the three-parent-baby process as not being one of “genetic modification”. He, along with other scientists, says the government is trying to put 'spin' on a controversial medical procedure.
Read more: Lord Winston accuses UK government of 'spin' over GM babies - News - News - Voice of Russia UK, Voice of Russia - UK Edition

what do you think of the general story?

Eventually this mod could end up in everyone in a few thousand years.

Is it worth the risk, just so some women can have a baby with some of their DNA in it?

 

[Second Summer]

I agree with professor that the government ought to be honest about what they are doing. I'm torn on the question of whether this should be allowed in the first place. Do the scientists know enough about the method to be certain it's safe? Will this create precedence for further genetic modification of embryos? Where will that lead us? To designer-babies? Is that a bad thing, or maybe a good thing? We could perhaps remove a lot of suffering from future generations if all hereditary diseases could be avoided.

 

[FortyTwo]

'Designer babies' is just a dressed-up term for fancy eugenics.

 

[Clueless Git]

Agree with IS that the Government needs to maintain honesty.

Once you have the precedent that modifying the genes of something/one does not count as genetic modification then the flood gates are flung well and truly open.

 

[Second Summer]

'Designer babies' is just a dressed-up term for fancy eugenics.

Yes, but is that kind of eugenics necessarily a bad thing, though?

 

[ledboots]

I don't know whether it's good or bad, but it's inevitable. There's already a generally available test that can identify the gender and chromosome count of a fetus--by a simple blood draw from the arm of the mother. At *10 weeks* gestation, they can isolate the fetal dna from the maternal blood and study it.

 

[FortyTwo]

Yes, but is that kind of eugenics necessarily a bad thing, though?

Yes.

 

[FortyTwo]

I don't know whether it's good or bad, but it's inevitable. There's already a generally available test that can identify the gender and chromosome count of a fetus--by a simple blood draw from the arm of the mother. At *10 weeks* gestation, they can isolate the fetal dna from the maternal blood and study it.

Yup, I agree here. It's going to happen, and there are going to be tons of legal wars. And who knows what condition it will end up in...

 

[das_nut]

This is stupid.

The technique being described is spindle transfer. Yes, it's technically replacing some DNA, but it's not any of the DNA in a human's 46 chromosomes. Instead, it's mitochondrial DNA being entirely replaced.

 

[Blobbenstein]

This is stupid.

The technique being described is spindle transfer. Yes, it's technically replacing some DNA, but it's not any of the DNA in a human's 46 chromosomes. Instead, it's mitochondrial DNA being entirely replaced.

so it is 46 chromosomes being replaced, instead of 1 or 2?

 

[Second Summer]

This is stupid.

The technique being described is spindle transfer. Yes, it's technically replacing some DNA, but it's not any of the DNA in a human's 46 chromosomes. Instead, it's mitochondrial DNA being entirely replaced.

I know. And I don't see the big difference, ethically speaking. It's still genetic material.

 

[das_nut]

I know. And I don't see the big difference, ethically speaking. It's still genetic material.

So is artificial insemination.

Spindle transfer is basically swapping out the organelles in a cell (actually it's swapping out the nucleus, but it's effectively the same result, genetically).

It's not modifying DNA. It's not swapping DNA from other species. It's replacing the mitochondria with some from a donor.

 

[Blobbenstein]

So is artificial insemination.

Spindle transfer is basically swapping out the organelles in a cell (actually it's swapping out the nucleus, but it's effectively the same result, genetically).

It's not modifying DNA. It's not swapping DNA from other species. It's replacing the mitochondria with some from a donor.

Like I said, replacing 46 chromosomes instead of changing a little of the DNA...

Surely the mitochondrial DNA is part of the DNA group of the whole cell...to replace the mitochondrial DNA, is to modify the DNA of the whole cell...surely?

 

[FortyTwo]

Don't mitochondria have their own DNA separate from their host organism's genetic code?

I'm pretty sure I read that in an article about evolutionary development and how single-celled organisms became complex and then eventually multicellular.

 

[das_nut]

Like I said, replacing 46 chromosomes instead of changing a little of the DNA...

Surely the mitochondrial DNA is part of the DNA group of the whole cell...to replace the mitochondrial DNA, is to modify the DNA of the whole cell...surely?

By the same logic, if you get a hip replacement, you replace almost an entire person, other than the hip.

 

[das_nut]

Don't mitochondria have their own DNA separate from their host organism's genetic code?

Yep, that's it. They are effectively transplanting mitochondria.

 

[Blobbenstein]

By the same logic, if you get a hip replacement, you replace almost an entire person, other than the hip.

how is that the same logic to what I said.

It's more like you are saying that with a hip replacement, the human hasn't been altered. All I'm say is that the human has been altered, by having a hip replacement. And that by replacing some of the DNA of a cell, that the DNA component of the cell has been altered.

 

[FortyTwo]

Okay, a few things:

1. It's really cool that they can do that!
2. No, of course that's not like genetically modifying someone.

The mitochondrion genes don't control the actual person's gene expression, they just control how the mitochondrion assists in metabolism.

 

[Blobbenstein]

could the zygote egg case be taken from an animal, out of interest?

Would chimp egg casings, and the mitochondrial DNA, be similar enough..?

 

[Clueless Git]

By the same logic, if you get a hip replacement, you replace almost an entire person, other than the hip.

You are reversing the definition of modification there, Das.

By definition (the making of a limited change in something; also : the result of such a change) a modification is a small change, not a large one.


I think I do get the point you have in mind though ...

Say a new car has a component manufacturing fault, a dodgy ECU or something.

Replacing that dodgy ECU with a same spec non-dodgy ECU makes no actual change to the car.

That would be to repair the car, NOT to modify it.

Is that what you arguing is the case for these mitochondrial transplants?