Greek and Spanish fertility doctors have worked together to produce a baby from three people. The boy was born on Tuesday, weighing 2.9kg and both the mother and the baby are said to be in good health.
The experimental form of the IVF uses an egg from the mother, sperm from the father and another egg from a donor woman. It helps families affected by mitochondrial disease, passed on from mother to child, as the newborn has a tiny amount of DNA – related to mitochondria – from the donor woman.
The mother, 32, had battled with infertility and had endured four unsuccessful IVF cycles.
Athens Institute of Life President Dr Panagiotis Psathas said that “a woman’s inalienable right to become a mother with her own genetic material became a reality.”
READ MORE: Greek Australian doctor instrumental in changing clinical practice in IVF clinics
The Greek team worked with Spanish centre Embryotools, and announcement has been made that eight embryos are ready to be planted in the other 24 women taking part in the trial.
Fertility doctors believe that another advantage of the technique is that it increases the success rate of IVF, but there is speculation that the mitochondria may have had a role in the successful pregnancy though this remains to be tested.
The doctors say that this birth has made medical history and the technique used would be able to help infertile couples around the world. Some experts in the UK are concerned that ethical questions are raised with the birth that should not have been allowed to take place.
Morally speaking the doctors are concerned that fertility and disease prevention are two different issues. They are concerned that there is no proven need for patients to have genetic material removed from their eggs and transferred to those of a donor.
