Has Britain's first three-parent baby already been born?
It was dubbed ‘Frankenscience' that would lead to a world where ‘designer babies' were the norm – and the greatest leap forward in fertility science since the introduction of IVF. The controversial technique, which uses DNA from three people rather than two to allow parents with rare genetic conditions to have healthy children was given the green light in 2017 – but we've heard nothing since. We speak to health journalist Jo Macfarlane who has discovered that 27 women have now undergone the procedure – raising the prospect that three-parent babies might already be among us. Liz Curtis who is Chief Executive of the Lilly Foundation, a mitochondrial disease charity, argues the technique is a lifeline, yet researcher Dr David Clancy warns it might do more harm than good.
Support the show: https://medicalminefield.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free