A fertility clinic in Athens announced that the birth of the first baby in Greece having DNA from 3 different people by using In Vitro Fertilization (IVF) would have occurred on April 11, 2019.
Alliance VITA continues to denounce this technique which violates the universal principle of the original male-female parity for pro-creation. These children will have 3 genetic parents: the embryo was created in vitro, using gametes from three sources: the biological father (by his spermatozoid) and two women (the “genetical” mother and the oocyte donor). This reproductive tinkering involves inserting the genetic material from the biological mother’s egg cells into the donor woman’s egg, from which the genetic material has previously been partially removed. Any embryo thus conceived contains all 3 parents’ DNA: the maternal and paternal chromosomes and the DNA transmitted by the oocyte donor’s mitochondria.
Blanche STREB, Alliance VITA’s Director of Training and Research, Author of “Dystopia: the World of Designer Babies” declares: and Research, Author of “Customized Babies- Survival of Undeniably, this is a case of procreative obstinacy. Scientific sorcerer’s apprentices are exploiting individuals’ desire to have a child and the painful suffering of infertility. Extreme boundaries have been crossed due to an inexhaustible IVF marketplace, and the insistence to have a child at any cost: creating human lives in the laboratory, manufacturing gametes, giving rise to genetically-modified embryos, and ignoring precautionary principles for the health of these babies who have become human guinea pigs in conception techniques. Modifying human DNA has not been proven to be safe or effective. For his entire life, every genetically-modified baby will be a ‘full-scale’ test result of his 3-parent IVF. What are the potential consequences related to the child’s biology, once he has received another woman’s mitochondrial DNA? What are the potential consequences related to the child’s development, once the unique and precious content of the maternal oocyte has been removed and discarded? Ultimately and in an unpredictable manner, these DNA modifications will now be transmitted to future generations. How can such risks be tolerated and ignored when genetics still has so many hidden aspects to be discovered? The Greek doctor in charge, Dr. Panagiotis Psathas, proclaims that a woman has an ‘inalienable right to become a mother with her own genetic material’. This thoughtless bioethical behavior is focused on the compelling desire of adults to have a child, without reflecting on the child’s best interest. This lamentable trend continues in the frenzy to produce a child at all cost, although the child himself is the real person who bears the brunt of the expense. The time has come to humanize our vision of the embryo, to positively reaffirm the particularity of human beings’ dignity, integrating pregnancy and conception techniques. Thus, we must learn to set aside any dehumanizing techniques. Brotherhood cannot evolve and progress if lives are held hostage.
