Mitochondrial replacement therapy in the light of the Convention on Biomedicine: the outline of a dilemma
Abstract
In recent years, wide media attention has been drawn to the mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT; or, in journalist jargon, the creation of "the three-parent babies")- The novel technique enables physicians to treat serious hereditary mitochondrial diseases in embryos by replacing the embryo's mitochondria carrying the genetic defect with healthy ones. However, the Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine prohibits any genetic modification that aims at modifying the genome of any descendants.
The mitochondrial DNA is inherited in maternal line; therefore, the use of MRT in embryos of female sex could be inadmissible, while in embryos of male sex it could be permissible. This approach, however, might be considered discriminatory.
The article analyses basic legal, biological, and ethical questions that require answers in order to solve the said dilemma.