3-parent baby sparks backlash after doctors use experimental procedure as a fertility treatment

4-16-2019 baby web thumb large
Image: Ekathimerini

A baby with DNA from three people has been born in Greece following a controversial fertility treatment.

The baby boy, weighing 2.9kg (6lb), was born on [April 9] and both he and his mother, who is 32, are said to be in good health.

The doctors behind the treatment, from Greece and Spain, say it marks a historic advance – it is the first time an IVF technique involving DNA from three people has been used with the aim of addressing fertility problems.

But UK experts criticised the decision to proceed with the treatment, which they said was not backed by evidence and involved unjustifiable risks.

The experimental IVF treatment, known as mitochondrial donation, involves using an egg from the mother, sperm from the father and another egg from a female donor.

The treatment was originally developed as a treatment that could prevent women with debilitating or even fatal mitochondrial diseases from passing them on to their children.

Nuno Costa-Borges, the Spanish embryologist who collaborated with the Institute of Life clinic in Greece, where the treatment took place, said it could help “countless women” to become mothers and described the advance as a revolution in fertility treatments.

Read full, original post: Baby with DNA from three people born in Greece

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