Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Explain this to me again....

I just read this on abcnews.com and I am confused, so you read it first and then we can discuss:


Researchers in New Jersey claim that 30 human babies might have been born with genes from three people: their mother, their father — and a third person, whose genes were added in the laboratory.
The researchers call their experiment "the first case of human … genetic modification resulting in normal healthy children."
The team at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St. Barnabas in West Orange, N.J. was trying to help infertile women become pregnant.
In each of the 30 cases, something in the mother's egg had prevented her from conceiving naturally. So St. Barnabas researchers extracted material from cells donated by a third woman.
This additional material from the donor's cell somehow allowed the egg to become fertile.
Their first success of having a child born with this cellular transfer technique was published in a medical journal in 1997. But an analysis of the genetic consequences of the method in two babies was only reported in March, in the journal Human Reproduction. DNA tests on two of them show they have a small number of genes that are not from their parents.
The genetic status of the other 28 babies is unknown.
The different genes come from DNA contained in mitochondria — little organs inside cells that create the energy to do life's work. They contain DNA — only about 0.03 percent of the total DNA — so they can make copies of themselves when cells divide. The other 99.97 percent of a cell's DNA comes from the nucleus and the 23 pairs of chromosomes.
A number of scientists question the ethics of the experiment. For the first time, they say, it has been confirmed that children have been born with genetic alterations.___________________________________
end.

Ok so correct me if I'm wrong, this country is completely (ok mostly) against stem cell research but we can mess around with embryos, cells, and chromosomes to make a "super baby" with 3 or more strains of DNA? How is that legal? How is that OK?  Where are they finding these crazy ass people who are actually donating their eggs and sperm to make experimental babies?  This seriously is freaking me out, I don't understand this country, I really don't.

I am completely for stem cell research  because I have heard of the things it can do.  Here is my little 2 cents, say someone gets an abortion, why not have them sign a release to allow the stem cells to be used for research?  Why not make something good out of a sad situation?   I don't see how that is so bad, and honestly I don't really see how it is any different then these people making 3 tiered babies.  In fact I actually think making the Tri DNA baby is worse.  Also how do we know if this is even safe or if these babies will be able to live normal lives?  There are some things you don't mess with and I think this is surely one of them

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