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Persuasive Essay On Genetically Modified Children

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On May 5, 2001, the world’s first genetically modified children were born. The United States performed an experiment from which, thirty healthy, GM babies were born; which brought up a concern for the ethics involved. The babies were born to mothers who would have been considered infertile otherwise. These children have DNA from three parents, two females and one male. Scientists extracted an egg from the infertile mother, and inserted fertile genes from the other woman before fertilization, in hopes of conceiving. The infertile women from the experiment were found to have defects in the mitochondria of their egg cells which prevented them from conceiving. Using the “healthy” eggs, scientists took fertile mitochondria and placed it into the infertile egg of the mother. Since these children have now inherited the modified genes into their germline, their “new” genes can be passed down to their children as well. Lord Winston, of the Hammersmith Hospital in West London, told BBC that, “Regarding the treatment of the infertile, there is no evidence that this technique is worth doing . . . I am very surprised that it was even carried out at this stage.”
In the persuasive essay for Unit Four, I will be using this source to help persuade the reader to have the same opinion as I do on this subject. In this article, John Smeaton, national director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said, “One has tremendous sympathy for couples who suffer infertility problems. But

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