Earlier this week, the British media breathlessly welcomed an exciting breakthrough. According to the Sky News headline, making babies from the DNA of three people – a number of children have now been born in this way – prevents “devastating” diseases. The birth of these children “is a major advance for the technique, called mitochondrial donation therapy, designed to prevent a life-limiting, often fatal illness”.
The headline does not, of course, tell us what the technique involves. The news segments I saw contained interviews with the pioneering scientists in Newcastle, as well as a professor who fully supports the practice. At no point was an opinion sought from anyone who expressed the slightest ethical concern.
