Question 22: THREE-PARENT BABY: What Does the Bible Say?

3-Parent-Baby:

What Does the Bible Say?

The recent approval in the United Kingdom regarding the creation of three-parent embryos through the nuclear transfer technique has generated a lot of controversies.

Though, this development offers some solutions for women with mitochondrial diseases, enabling them to conceive healthy biological children, however, there are concerns among Christians as to the entire concept.

The 3-Parent-Baby is a medical procedure that offers hope to parents with rare genetic mutations, enabling them to have healthy babies. The technique involves the medical manipulation of mitochondrial DNA to prevent the transmission of genetic disorders.

As reported by SkyNews on Tuesday, September 27, 2016, the first in the world to experience this medical technique is a Jordanian couple who carry genes for Leigh syndrome, a fatal disorder affecting the nervous system caused by mitochondrial mutations. Despite being healthy themselves, the couple lost their first two children to Leigh syndrome and sought the help of Dr. John Zhang and his team at the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City.

The traditional “three-parent” technique, called pronuclear transfer, was not suitable for the couple due to their religious beliefs as Muslims, as it involved the destruction of two embryos.

Instead, Dr. Zhang utilized an alternative approach called spindle nuclear transfer. He transferred the nucleus from one of the mother’s eggs into a donor egg, which had its nucleus removed. The resulting egg contained nuclear DNA from the mother and mitochondrial DNA from the donor. This modified egg was then fertilized with the father’s sperm.

Out of the five embryos created using this method, only one developed normally. This embryo was then implanted into the mother, resulting in the birth of a healthy child after nine months. The success of this procedure is expected to accelerate progress worldwide in the field of mitochondrial disease treatment.

In simple terms, three-parent babies refer to a medical technique called mitochondrial replacement therapy (MRT) or three-parent in vitro fertilization (IVF). It is a method used to help prevent the passing on of certain genetic diseases from a mother to her child.

To understand this, let’s talk a bit about mitochondria. Mitochondria are tiny structures within our cells that provide energy for our bodies. They have their own small set of genes, separate from the genes found in the nucleus of our cells.

Sometimes, there can be genetic mutations or abnormalities in the mitochondrial genes, and when a woman with such mutations has a child, there is a risk of passing on those mutations, which can lead to serious health problems.

Here’s where the concept of three-parent babies comes in. The procedure involves taking the nucleus (which contains the majority of the genetic material) from the mother’s egg and transferring it into a donor egg. The donor egg has its own healthy mitochondria but doesn’t have the nucleus. So essentially, the nucleus from the mother’s egg is placed into the donor egg, resulting in an egg with the mother’s genetic material and the healthy mitochondria from the donor.

Once this modified egg is created, it can be fertilized with the father’s sperm through in vitro fertilization (IVF) techniques. The fertilized egg, now containing the DNA from both parents and healthy mitochondria, is then implanted into the mother’s womb, where it can develop into a baby.

The purpose of this technique is to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial diseases from the mother to her child. By replacing the faulty mitochondria with healthy ones, the risk of certain genetic disorders can be significantly reduced.

It’s important to note that the genetic information passed on from the mother and father still comes from their nuclear DNA, just like in any other child. The term “three-parent baby” is mainly used to describe the fact that the child has genetic material from the mother, father, and the donor whose healthy mitochondria were used.

It’s worth mentioning that mitochondrial replacement therapy is a relatively new and highly regulated procedure. It has been developed to help families affected by mitochondrial diseases have healthy children and reduce the risk of passing on these conditions to future generations.

The United Kingdom’s decision to allow the creation of three-parent embryos stems from the idea of nuclear transfer. As mentioned above, this technique involves transferring the nucleus of a mother’s egg into a donor egg, from which the nucleus has been removed. By doing so, the resulting embryo inherits nuclear DNA from both parents while avoiding the risk of passing on mitochondrial diseases.

However, as Christians, we must ascertain the biblical injunctions revolving around the risks associated with manipulating human embryos.

One of such assertions in the Bible is the belief that life begins at conception and that any interference with the natural processes of reproduction may be seen as tampering with the sanctity of life.

It’s worth noting that the issue of three-parent embryos and nuclear transfer is complex and multifaceted. And as good as this medical technology sounds, we need to analyse it to see how conformable and compliant it is with God’s Word, the Holy Bible.

Let’s observe:

1. The use of three-parent baby techniques could pave the way for more extensive genetic modifications or other reproductive interventions, leading to ethical dilemmas and uncertain outcomes. There seems to be no stop to medical advances. Once this procedure takes firm root, then there would follow another far more corrosive procedure such as “medical creation of designer babies”. This is where parents would begin to medically choose and select the genes they prefer their children to have.

2. Mathematically, each of the two women involved in donating the eggs can claim being the mother of the baby having donated some certain percentages into the formation of the baby’s fotus. The baby then grows up forever stigmatised as a product of two mothers.

3. Altering the mitochondrial DNA of an embryo is a form of genetic modification, raising questions and consequences for future generations. The full extent of the long-term effects of mitochondrial replacement therapy remains unknown, and there could be unforeseen risks associated with this technique. Therefore, this procedure is like “playing God”

4. Although, there’s no mentioning or direct quotation either approving or disallowing “3-parent-baby” procedure in the Bible as this was not in existence at the time the Bible was canonised. But it can always be inferred from the many biblical references that children are blessings from God Psalms127:3-5.

A child comes into the world through a husband and his wife. An example is the first man, Adam and Eve, his wife, who produced Cain, their first son, Gen. 4:1.

In other words, the Bible’s standard of procreation is through the family set up of a husband and his wife. It is, therefore, strange and can be considered unscriptural to dilute or mix the eggs of two women together for fertilization in the process of procreation.

5. Our Lord Jesus Christ while walking the earth cured diseases and disabilities, alleviating the effects of the Curse. And Jesus still cures today according to Hebrews 13:8.

In fact, there was the case of a man who was reportedly blind from birth. Jesus did not have to remove someone else’s eyeballs in order to give the blind man sight. Rather, He created new eyeballs for the man with muds of the earth. There was no loss of one for the other to gain, (John 9:1-7).

But here, the 3-parent-baby medical procedure gets rid of at least one good zygote or egg from a donor for the other to be made well.

While medical procedures cannot be ignored in wellness and their contributions to human well-being are highly appreciated, medical personnel should not violate God’s commandments in the process of making people to be well.

Conclusion:

What is the way forward? Let’s recap the two ways of carrying out the 3-Parent-Baby procedure:

There are two procedures for using this reproductive purposes: (1) Pronuclear Transfer (PNT); and (2) Maternal Spindle Transfer (MST).

(1) Pronuclear Transfer involves extracting the nucleus from the fertilized egg of a faulty one and inserting it into a donor’s enucleated egg. This process destroys one living zygote and combines genetic material from two zygotes to create a third. It is unbiblically to dispose one human life (even if he or she is one micro-second old) in order to repair another human life.

(2) Maternal Spindle Transfer: This involves placing the mother’s DNA into an enucleated donor egg. It utilizes two unfertilized eggs, and the repaired egg is then fertilized by the intended father’s sperm. Since the eggs used in MST are unfertilized, a new human individual life has not yet begun. No life is lost.

But then, the third person who’s the egg donor had contributed (even if not more than 1%) into the life of the new baby. This means the baby now has two mothers!

Scripturally, a baby is permitted to have only one mother.

 

References

1. The Neutral Model of evolution and recent African origins, J. Creation 23(1):70–77, 2009; creation.com/african-origins.

2. Wieland, C., Hello Dolly! Creation 19(3):23, June 1997; creation.com/hello-dolly.

3. Tachibana, M., et al., Mitochondrial gene replacement in primate offspring and embryonic stem cells, Nature 461(7262):367–372, 17 September 2009 | doi:10.1038/nature08368.

4. Baylis, F., Ethical objections to mitochondrial replacement, impactethics.ca, 2 June 2013; noveltechethics.ca/staff/66.

5. Cosner, L., Broken images, Creation 34(4):46–48; creation.com/broken-images.