The UK’s fertility watchdog has launched a public consultationon the ethics of IVF-based techniques designed to avoid serious mitochondrial diseases.
Around 1 in 200 children is born each year with a form of mitochondrial disease. Some children have mild or no symptoms but others can be severely affected and have a shortened life expectancy. Symptoms include muscle weakness, intestinal disorders and heart disease.
New techniques, known as mitochondria replacement, could enable women to avoid passing these diseases on to their children by using mitochondria from a donated egg to create a healthy embryo, which would then be used in normal IVF treatment. Read full article.
