18 babies were born from a three-gene transplant test

In 1996-2001, the infertility treatment trial conducted in the United States produced 18 babies with 3-person genes: father and mother and egg donor.

After 15 years, they became 13-18 year old teenagers. There were no signs of any serious abnormal health and excellent grades at school, 18 children were "very good".

According to CBS, between 1996-2001, Jacques Cohen, an embryologist at Saint Barnabas Medical Center (USA), experimented with infertility treatment with new techniques for 33 couples who could not conceive after 5 times of fertilization. in vitro. The group of scientists injected mitochondrial cells from donor eggs into the mother's eggs to replace defective mitochondria, supporting embryo development without affecting hair color and eye color. Results, 14 out of 33 pregnant couples and 13 pairs of successful births. In total, 18 babies were born, including 2 twins and a private case.

In Reproductive BioMedicine magazine, Cohen and his colleagues announced the current status of 18 children. One child had chronic migraine, two had mild asthma, one was obese, seven had allergies and one had a reduced attention disorder. Doctors rate this rate as acceptable. Besides, a boy who had a personality disorder at the time of 18 months is now stable and his academic achievement is excellent. The family of 4 babies and babies refused to provide more information, only revealing that they were all healthy and in high school. In general, 18 children were relatively healthy."This is what we expected , " Cohen said.

From left to right: Peter Foster, Kerry's adopted daughter, wife Susan and her daughter Emma - a child born from a three-gene transplant test.(Photo: AP).

Emma Foster is 17 years old, Susan's daughter and Peter Foster are the only child ever told by their parents about genetic engineering 15 years ago. Having been treated for infertility for 7 years, the Foster couple immediately agreed to Cohen's invitation to participate in the experiment. At 33, Susan gave birth to Emma."You are a blessing, a miracle," the mother was moved. " Medicine has made everything possible".

Storing a record book of the daughter's birth, Susan recently decided to finish telling Emma. Teenage girls don't show surprise, on the contrary they are excited because "that makes me different".

Today, the technique of treating infertility implants of 3 DNA by mitochondrial injection is no longer applied. Since 2001, at least two medical facilities in the United States and countless foreign clinics have conducted trials according to Cohen, but the US Food and Drug Administration quickly joined. Before he could apply for permission to continue, Cohen and his colleagues were cut off funding.

Last month, a newborn baby was born with 3 genotypes but followed another technique. Scientists are concerned about the long-term safety of this method because it is designed to minimize the risk of inheriting harmful genes from the mother's fetus and not to treat infertility. Acknowledging that finding 18 children with three genes will help families who are considering measures to prevent disease, Cohen insists that no guarantee of new technology is 100% safe and should be widely used.