[lee martell]

British Scientists have devised a method to combine the DNA of multiple people, three, maybe even four, and guide this mixture into the production of a child. So, in the near future for those who can afford this process, a child literally can become a suppository of many different DNA, no longer ‘limited’ to just two origins.

[Slyfox]

... a child literally can become a suppository of many different DNA, no longer ‘limited’ to just two origins.

Makes me question God as to why He has not flushed us all already.

[dhs12345]

Agreed, they will be able to eventually put a goats head on a dogs body but is that natural?

Science will allow us to do some pretty odd things but it will not be a creation from nature but an aberration, a science experiment.

Plus, it worries me what might result from us tinkering with the DNA of various species including humans. The consequences may not be seen in the first or second generations but maybe many generations. And by then, it will be too late.

[GeronL]

frankenkids

I wonder what the side effects will be

[kanawa]

We already are that ‘suppository of different DNA’.
I am composed of the combined DNA of my parents.
They, the combined DNA of their parents...and so on.

[ChildOfThe60s]

That is creepy and disgusting

[FredZarguna]

If you're talking about the in-vitro fertilization procedure I think you are, this has been an experimental technique for almost twenty years. What's new is that Britain is considering the legalization of the practice. A handful of kids were conceived in the US but the IVF procedure was banned here, and throughout the world, in 2002.

Anyway, the child is not actually a product of three hereditary parents. Our "gene splicing" technology isn't good enough for that, yet. Here's what happens: the mitochondria in our cells are organelles that produce energy. There is strong evidence they once existed as independent organisms: they have their own DNA, and they reproduce independently of our cells.

You can only get mitochondrial DNA from your mother. Sperm cells don't contain mitochondria, but your mother's egg did. When the egg cell divided after fertilization, her mitochondria were subsequently propagated into your cells. Some women cannot produce viable offspring because they have mitochondrial defect diseases.

This "Three Parent" IVF process combines haploids from both parents with mitochondria from a third person.

None of what we normally consider heritable characteristics come from the third "parent." Just some cell parts. As usual, sensationalist press stories got it all wrong...