The UK government’s recent move towards human trials of mitochondrial-replacement techniques has prompted intense interest among scientists and bioethicists, while the media continue to frame mitochondrial replacement as a matter of ‘three-parent babies’. The description is accurate but this simple framing overshadows profound social and ethical concerns.
Mitochondrial-replacement procedures would constitute germline modification. Were the United Kingdom to grant a regulatory go-ahead, it would unilaterally cross a legal and ethical line on this issue that has been observed by the entire international community.
Read the full article here: A slippery slope to human germline modification
