Beeb.
Quote:
MPs will hold a crucial vote later to decide whether to allow the creation of babies using DNA from three people.
They will have a free vote on the technique, which is aimed at preventing deadly genetic diseases being passed from mother to child.
The UK could become the first country to legalise three-person babies and it could help about 150 couples a year.
It has sparked fierce ethical debate and senior Church figures have called for the procedure to be blocked.
However, if there is a "yes" vote in the Commons, then the first three-person baby could be born as soon as next year.
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It should be noted that the DNA referred to from the 'third' person is not actually 'their' DNA but belongs to the
mitochondria borrowed from that person. These are sub-units of cells that are essentially the power plants and have their own DNA. They are believed to be endosymbiotes whose evolutionary roots were as separate bacteria and at some point, believed to be 1.7 to 2 billion years ago, survived becoming parts of larger cells.
It's the cutting edge, very much so, however it is very different from genetically engineering human beings and mitochondrial DNA is far from unique, unlike a human's DNA which is the combination of their parents'.
Playing 'God' or playing 'Doctor'? For me we routinely do transplants, this is much the same but on a cellular level.