NewcastleThree of the UK’s eight mitochondrial-replacement babies show low-level reversion.
Reversion lets disease-causing mitochondria resurface, the exact risk the technique was built to remove.
Mutated mitochondria carried over with the mother’s genetic material multiply as embryo cells divide, crowding out healthy donor mitochondria.
“The field is showing that it’s a bad idea,” said Jacques Cohen, a New York embryologist.
Australia is preparing to launch its own national experiment with the technique.
How each outlet framed it
- STAT
- centres emerging UK data and Bert Smeets' warning that mitochondrial replacement is not 'very safe and low risk' as the public assumes
Sources: STAT