BREAKING NEWS: The world’s first ‘three-parent baby’ is delivered by US medical team in Mexico
The world’s first child created using a controversial three-parent baby technique has been born in Mexico.
The boy, who is now five months old, was born to Jordanian parents after they were treated by a US medical team in Mexico.
The controversial technique allows parents with genetic mutations to deliver healthy children.
It has only been legally approved in the UK but embryologists believe Abrahim’s birth should fast-forward progress around the world.
‘This is a milestone technique,’ Dr John Zhang, who led the surgical team from New York City’s New Hope Fertility Center.
‘It proves for the first time that genetic information from three people can avoid disease,’ he said.
‘We now know reconstitution of human eggs can produce a healthy baby.
‘No other technique has been established.’
And echoing both the fears and excitement of the entire medical community, Dr Zhang pointed out: ‘This is just the start.’
For now, embryologists are focusing on the technique as a way to avoid hereditary diseases that prevent many adults with genetic mutations from having children.
Down the line, however, Dr Zhang said its application could be ‘unlimited’, even to the point of altering an unborn child’s DNA to edit their appearance or skill set.
‘It’s all possible. It just depends how you use the technique.
‘This technique is a new platform. How far it can go, I really cannot imagine. But it’s totally possible to accomplish [cosmetic editing].
‘As with any development of new techniques, you always need to bear in mind efficacy and safety. Even with IVF.’
