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A child of 3 parents is born in Mexico.

 
, medical expert
Last reviewed: 02.07.2025
 
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05 October 2016, 09:00

Just recently, scientists were talking about the possibility of creating a child with DNA from three parents (two women and one man), and now the New Scientist magazine has published news about the birth of such an unusual baby.

The baby is now 5 months old, born in Mexico to Muslim parents. Throughout the pregnancy and to this day, a team of specialists from the United States has been monitoring the baby's condition. By law, conducting research with donor DNA and correcting genetic mutations is only permitted in the UK; in other countries, heated debates continue about whether a person has the right to interfere in such processes.

The genetic mother of the unique child is a carrier of a rare hereditary disease - Leigh syndrome, which affects the central nervous system and in most cases leads to death within a few years after the onset of the disease, especially the progression of the disease is dangerous for children under 3 years old. The woman had already given birth to two children, but the disease affected both of her babies - the first child lived to be 8 years old, the second did not live to be 1 year old.

In order to give birth to a healthy baby, the couple decided to turn to Dr. John Zhang, who works with the “child from 3 parents” technique, which allows preventing various hereditary diseases.

In theory, there are several methods to correct gene defects, but in this case, Dr. Zhang decided to use the spindle nuclear transfer method, since the parents' religious beliefs did not allow the destruction of the embryo, which is used in other methods. The method involves transferring the nucleus from the mother's egg to a donor egg, from which the mother's own nucleus is first removed, and then fertilizing it with the father's sperm. Dr. Zhang created a total of 5 embryos, but only 1 of them developed normally, and it was he who became the future baby Abragim.

All procedures were carried out in Mexico, as such manipulations are prohibited by US law. The newborn baby of a Muslim couple with DNA from 3 parents is not the first in the world. Similar experiments were carried out in the 90s in the US, but due to the development of genetic defects in children, the experiments were banned.

It is worth noting that Dr. Zhang also cannot guarantee that Abrahim will not experience any abnormalities in the future.

Dr. Zhang and his colleagues examined Abrahim's condition and checked the child's DNA and found that the percentage of mutations in them is less than 1%, which means that the probability of developing serious diseases is extremely low. However, Dr. Zhang's colleagues are sure that it is too early to declare the success of the method; it is necessary to conduct several more similar experiments and observe the development of other children with DNA from 3 parents.

But experiments of this nature may not be repeated as the world continues to debate ethically and scientifically about gene manipulation. Some critics have said that scientists are pretending to be God by conducting such research, and have even compared scientists to the Nazis who tried to create the “perfect man.”

In turn, scientists working with DNA claim that their experiments have nothing in common with either cloning or selection in relation to humans. The main goal of their work is not the creation of a superman with certain abilities or capabilities, but the birth of a healthy child. With the new method "Child from 3 parents" tens of thousands of women will be able to experience the joy of motherhood, and newborns will be saved from serious pathologies and diseases.

Despite all the reviews of their work, Dr. Zhang is confident that he has made a breakthrough in medicine, and regarding the ethics of the issue, Dr. Zhang said that the most important thing is life.

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