A scientist said he created a baby with three parents

Whoa. An infertility doctor has reportedly helped a couple with a history of genetic disorders to have a healthy baby using the DNA of three adults, making this baby the world's first to have three biological parents.

U.K. magazine New Scientist first reported that Dr. John Zhang, who founded the New Hope Fertility Center in New York City, traveled to Mexico to perform the procedure, which cannot be performed in the United States because it hasn't been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. The technique used, known as a spindle nuclear transfer, was employed with the goal of preventing Leigh syndrome, a severe genetic neurological disorder that caused the deaths of the couple's first two children and the loss of four previous pregnancies.

This genetic disorder is carried in the mitochondrial DNA, which is inherited from the mother. Under Zhang's procedure, the mitochondrial DNA from the mother was removed from the egg and replaced with a donor's mitochondria. Zhang then fertilized the egg with the father's sperm. Zhang reportedly created five embryos, only one of which developed normally.

According to the study, "Transfer of the [normal] embryo resulted in an uneventful pregnancy with delivery of a healthy boy at 37 weeks of gestation." Because the child is male, he is incapable of passing down the mitochondrial DNA to any future children.

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Zhang conceived of this procedure as an alternative to others that require the destruction of embryos, which goes against the couple's Muslim beliefs.

Despite the technique's apparent success, it has led to controversy.

Lori P. Knowles, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Alberta School of Public Health told CNN, "It's unfortunate to have people decide they're just going to quite willingly engage in this kind of reproductive tourism—to go outside of a system that is in place to create the safest, most scientifically reproducible way forward. That's the precedent then, that if you think you can do it, then let's just hop the border and see what happens, hope for the best."

Others hailed the technique as a major development in reproductive science.

However, Owen K. Davis, president of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said in a statement, "This work represents an important advancement in reproductive medicine. Mitochondrial disease has been an important, and challenging problem. If subsequent research determines the safety and efficacy of spindle nuclear transfer, we look forward to it being an option for patients who risk transmitting mitochondrial diseases to their children."

Zhang will present the details of the case at the American Society for Reproductive Medicine's meeting next month in Salt Lake City.

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