This headline caught my attention. Not in a morally repugnant way; quite contrary, I saw a glimpse of the future where science and medicine can constructively help families rid themselves of genetic baggage. Perhaps the Hippocratic ethic can still inform our decision making:
I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygeia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:
To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.
I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.
I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.
I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.
Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.
What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.
If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.
Genetically Modified Embryos May Be Answer to Deadly Disease
Feb. 5, 2008—
British researchers today are reporting a potential new technique to spare thousands of children each year from a group of deadly inheritable diseases known collectively as mitochondrial disease.
These diseases might be prevented by genetically altering human embryos, which are the product of two mothers and one father, the researchers said.
Isabelle Christenson, 9, has mitochondrial disease, which is passed from mother to child via the egg. Mitochondria -- the parts of cells that convert food into energy -- have their own DNA which is separate from that in a cell's nucleus. Isabelle has already suffered a stroke and undergone a kidney transplant, a stomach transplant and a liver transplant.
"Isabelle has about a year to live, the doctors told us about a week and a half ago, barring no more complications," her mother, Michelle Christenson, said.
Researchers can theoretically prevent the passing of mitochondrial disease in a child by extracting nuclear DNA from a mother with mitochondrial disease and a father, then injecting that DNA into a donor egg from a woman without Mitochondrial disease.
The resulting embryo, in effect, had three parents but was disease-free. It inherited all the physical characteristics from Mom and Dad but received its healthy mitochondrial DNA from the woman providing the "donor egg."
Altering eggs is not a new idea but the groundbreaking development is the technique to actually prevent genetic disease. Researchers say the next step is to let these "three parent embryos" grow beyond a few days, to see if they can actually become healthy babies.
But for families like the Christensons, it's about preventing future generations from enduring this disease ever again.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
I swear by Apollo Physician and Asclepius and Hygeia and Panaceia and all the gods and goddesses, making them my witnesses, that I will fulfill according to my ability and judgment this oath and this covenant:
To hold him who has taught me this art as equal to my parents and to live my life in partnership with him, and if he is in need of money to give him a share of mine, and to regard his offspring as equal to my brothers in male lineage and to teach them this art - if they desire to learn it - without fee and covenant; to give a share of precepts and oral instruction and all the other learning to my sons and to the sons of him who has instructed me and to pupils who have signed the covenant and have taken an oath according to the medical law, but no one else.
I will apply dietetic measures for the benefit of the sick according to my ability and judgment; I will keep them from harm and injustice.
I will neither give a deadly drug to anybody who asked for it, nor will I make a suggestion to this effect. Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy. In purity and holiness I will guard my life and my art.
I will not use the knife, not even on sufferers from stone, but will withdraw in favor of such men as are engaged in this work.
Whatever houses I may visit, I will come for the benefit of the sick, remaining free of all intentional injustice, of all mischief and in particular of sexual relations with both female and male persons, be they free or slaves.
What I may see or hear in the course of the treatment or even outside of the treatment in regard to the life of men, which on no account one must spread abroad, I will keep to myself, holding such things shameful to be spoken about.
If I fulfill this oath and do not violate it, may it be granted to me to enjoy life and art, being honored with fame among all men for all time to come; if I transgress it and swear falsely, may the opposite of all this be my lot.
Genetically Modified Embryos May Be Answer to Deadly Disease
Feb. 5, 2008—
British researchers today are reporting a potential new technique to spare thousands of children each year from a group of deadly inheritable diseases known collectively as mitochondrial disease.
These diseases might be prevented by genetically altering human embryos, which are the product of two mothers and one father, the researchers said.
Isabelle Christenson, 9, has mitochondrial disease, which is passed from mother to child via the egg. Mitochondria -- the parts of cells that convert food into energy -- have their own DNA which is separate from that in a cell's nucleus. Isabelle has already suffered a stroke and undergone a kidney transplant, a stomach transplant and a liver transplant.
"Isabelle has about a year to live, the doctors told us about a week and a half ago, barring no more complications," her mother, Michelle Christenson, said.
Researchers can theoretically prevent the passing of mitochondrial disease in a child by extracting nuclear DNA from a mother with mitochondrial disease and a father, then injecting that DNA into a donor egg from a woman without Mitochondrial disease.
The resulting embryo, in effect, had three parents but was disease-free. It inherited all the physical characteristics from Mom and Dad but received its healthy mitochondrial DNA from the woman providing the "donor egg."
Altering eggs is not a new idea but the groundbreaking development is the technique to actually prevent genetic disease. Researchers say the next step is to let these "three parent embryos" grow beyond a few days, to see if they can actually become healthy babies.
But for families like the Christensons, it's about preventing future generations from enduring this disease ever again.
Copyright © 2008 ABC News Internet Ventures
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