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| Europe |
| France Sees First 'Savior Sibling' |
| 2011-02-08 |
| PARIS (AFP) -- Doctors in France on Monday announced the country's first birth of a "savior sibling," selected at the embryonic stage to be a close genetic match to save a brother or sister suffering from a fatal inherited disorder. The baby was born at the Antoine Beclere Hospital in Clamart, in the suburbs of Paris, said doctors Rene Frydman and Arnold Munnich. The child, born to parents of Turkish origin and named Umut-Talha (Turkish for "our hope"), was conceived through in-vitro fertilization and was born on January 26 with a weight of 3.65 kilos (8.03 pounds), they said. "He is in good health," Frydman told AFP. The child's embryo was genetically selected to ensure he did not carry the gene for beta thalassemia, from which his siblings suffer, but was also a close enough match to provide treatment cells from umbilical cord blood, a rich source of stem cells. Beta thalassemia produces an abnormal form of hemoglobin, the protein in red blood cells which carries oxygen around the body. It causes destruction of red blood cells, which in turn leads to anemia. The world's first "savior sibling" was Adam Nash, born in the United States in 2000. The issue has been hedged with moral concerns about so-called designer babies and the morality of conceiving life to help a child with a genetic disorder. As the parent of a child with a genetic disorder I don't understand this last part. So long as the savior sibling isn't destined be harvested for organs (and I don't think some blood cells count), what's the moral issue? Most children instinctively want to help their siblings. |
| Posted by:Secret Master |
| #1 Well I a pretty sure having your bone marrow aspirated from your femurs, and transplanted to the other sibling might be OK for you, I guess, Secret Master. |
| Posted by: Mr. Bill 2011-02-08 22:34 |