Technologies for creating a child out of genetic material of three “parents”: legal and bioethical aspects

1. Entity type Lemma
2. Original titleТехнологии производства ребёнка из генетического материала трёх «родителей»: юридический и биоэтический аспекты
3. Language term Russian
4. lemma author Asliturk, Miriam
5. lemma category Ethics - Scientific theories and disciplines > Medicine - Orthodox view on technology and engineering - Scientific theories and disciplines > Biology
6. Publication date 18-07-2018
7. lemma work Понкин, И.В. [Author]. Технологии производства ребёнка из генетического материала трёх «родителей»: юридический и биоэтический аспекты
8. lemma manifestations Церковь и Биоэтика: Церковно-общественный совет по биомедицинской этике при Московской Патриархии.
9. Keywords bioethics - biotechnology - in vitro fertilisation - Russian Orthodoxy - eugenics - family - genetics
10. Url Click Here
11. Citations
    1. <p>Понкин, И.В. и Понкина, А.А. (2016). Технологии производства ребенка из генетического материала трех «родителей»: юридический и биоэтический аспекты. <em>Церковь и Биоэтика: Церковно-общественный совет по биомедицинской этике при Московской Патриархии.</em> Retrieved from:  <a href="http://bioethics.orthodoxy.ru/analitika/reproduktivnye-tekhnologii/342-tekhnologii-proizvodstva-rebjonka-iz-geneticheskogo-materiala-trjokh-roditelej-yuridicheskij-i-bioeticheskij-aspekty">http://bioethics.orthodoxy.ru/analitika/reproduktivnye-tekhnologii/342-tekhnologii-proizvodstva-rebjonka-iz-geneticheskogo-materiala-trjokh-roditelej-yuridicheskij-i-bioeticheskij-aspekty</a> </p>
12. Lemma body

    1. The authors criticize Russian authorities for not paying enough attention to ethics in biotechnologies, such as in vitro fertilization that uses mitochondrial donation. This technology, adopted in the UK in 2015, replaces defected parts of the ovum with tissue from another woman’s ovum. Therefore three persons are involved in giving life to a child. According to a number of specialists, this technology implies killing healthy embryos. The risk of genetic disorders in future children is also involved. Donation of mitochondria implies that children will adopt characteristics of three parents. Authors support the position of the Swedish Council for Medical Ethics that criticizes these new biotechnologies for health risks and dubious procedural ethics. The Swedish Council also suggests that traditional adoption should be considered as an alternative to biotechnologies that use mitochondrial donation.

       The authors argue that the legalization of in vitro fertilization with the use of mitochondrial donation from more than two persons is unacceptable and illegal. They bring forward five arguments:

       1) This new technology consciously uses extra embryos as disposable material.

       2) Even if only one embryo is used, the procedure is unethical because it is a risky experimentation on human being. A child can inherit genetic diseases from donated mitochondrial DNA.

       3) This technology implies the participation of a third person in a relationship between a man and a woman and destroys the institution of family. Moreover, this can harm a child’s self-perception and cause personality disorder. As both ovums are equally important, the child becomes distanced from both his mothers.

       4) This technology not only harms the child but can also endanger future generations born from that child.

       5) This technology represents covert eugenics manipulation; an attempt to produce people with new features. The authors believe that specialists who promote the technology in fact hide their eugenicist aspirations behind humanist values of care and compassion. The technology is not an attempt to heal mitochondrial disorders but to replace ill mitochondria with new ones in order to construct a child according to a certain design.