Yesterday Britain has become the first country in the world to allow the controversial mitochondrial donation technique which enables an artificial creation of three-parent babies. Among the substantial coverage of this news in the media the BBC illustrates the procedure with 2 diagrams shown below:

 

Diagram 1

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Diagram 2

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Looking at this systemically, both methods require one father and two mothers to create a child. However, the first one seems to be created by combining two half-siblings, while the latter combines the mothers instead.

What does this mean in terms of systemic implications for the families involved? Would this expand the child’s heritage to include 3 separate family lines with 3 parents, 6 grandparents and an even larger extended family field? And what will happen to the underlying issue behind the symptoms in the unhealthy mother that such procedure intends to resolve? We can only begin to hypothesise. It is, however, worth understanding the factual details of all the various aspects involved in the cost of creating such a life. The current debate around this topic demonstrates a clear awareness of generational implications of such a step and once it goes ahead, there will be no going back.

Some news coverage in the media: BBC, The Independent, Huffington Post.

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