A team of U.K. scientists is pushing to develop a process for genetically modified babies, using DNA from four parents.
The Christian Institute reports that a group of scientists at Newcastle University have been experimenting with Pro-Nuclear Transfer (PNT), which involves transferring DNA from one embryo (created with DNA from two parents) to another embryo (also created with DNA from two parents), thus creating an embryo with DNA from four different individuals.
Many scientists and ethicists have condemned the process because it is risky and involves the destruction of hundreds of embryos.
Nevertheless, the Newcastle team hopes to continue with their research.
Scientific journal Nature recently published an article claiming that the process of PNT is safe and can lead to normal pregnancies.
However, Deputy Director of The Christian Institute Humphrey Dobson, disagrees. Dobson said scientists “can’t possibly know that it is safe.” Dobson also warned that problems may not be immediately obvious, but “may only arise in the generations to come.”
Last year, the U.K. became the first country to legalize the creation of three or four-parent babies, which is also known as “mitochondrial replacement.”
In addition to warning that this process could be unsafe, scientists have cautioned that it could lead to the acceptance of eugenics.
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Publication date: June 10, 2016
