SoylentNews is people
SoylentNews
A new mitochondrial donation technique called spindle nuclear transfer has been successfully used in order to prevent a child from inheriting a mitochondrial disorder:
It's not the first time scientists have created babies that have DNA from three people - that breakthrough began in the late 1990s - but it is an entirely new and significant method. [...] The US team, who travelled to Mexico to carry out the procedure because there are no laws there that prohibit it, used a method that takes all the vital DNA from the mother's egg plus healthy mitochondria from a donor egg to create a healthy new egg that can be fertilised with the father's sperm.
[...] Some have questioned whether we are only now hearing the success story while failed attempts could have gone unreported. Prof Alison Murdoch, part of the team at Newcastle University that has been at the forefront of three person IVF work in the UK, said: "The translation of mitochondrial donation to a clinical procedure is not a race but a goal to be achieved with caution to ensure both safety and reproducibility." Critics say the work is irresponsible. Dr David King from the pro-choice group Human Genetics Alert, said: "It is outrageous that they simply ignored the cautious approach of US regulators and went to Mexico, because they think they know better. Since when is a simplistic "to save lives is the ethical thing to do" a balanced medical ethics approach, especially when no lives were being saved?" Dr Zhang and his team say they will answer these questions when they presents[sic] their findings at a meeting of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine in October.
Also at The New York Times and NPR.
First live birth using human oocytes reconstituted by spindle nuclear transfer for mitochondrial DNA mutation causing Leigh syndrome (open, DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2016.08.004) (DX)
As far as I can tell, what you see in the above Fertility and Sterility paper is all that has been released.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Arik on Thursday September 29 2016, @02:41AM
That last would actually be a bad thing. People who feel no pain injure themselves without realizing it.
A competently designed soldier would feel pain at least as acutely as the average, if not more so.
But yeah of course there are plenty of scenarios where this could go horribly wrong.
The one that struck me personally at first glance was a bit different though.
They went to Mexico to perform the operation because it's not legal in the US?
Now under old school law and order ideas that's fine since Mexico is sovereign, but under the new NWO line that idea has been discarded and they probably shouldn't expect to keep getting away with that for long.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Thursday September 29 2016, @02:58AM
The pain thing? Implanted sensors to let you know how much damage you have taken, but no real pain.
In real life, some people feel pain more acutely than others, while some people are almost immune to pain. Such people either survive childhood, or they do not.
Mexico law? You have a good point there. The infamous "They" will come up with something soon to prevent people going to Mexico for experimental drugs, surgery, and other procedures.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 2) by Some call me Tim on Thursday September 29 2016, @04:01AM
Exactly. I don't want my health to be held hostage to the globalists for their own profit.
Questioning science is how you do science!
(Score: 4, Interesting) by edIII on Thursday September 29 2016, @04:28AM
The best sensors are the ones telling you that are in pain. Modifying how you respond to that information is better than getting rid of the sensor network for a more inferior one. You need to notice the damage, and unless it's routed direct to the "optics" it could be disregarded.
You would be far better served to alter the sensory cortex to change the sensation of pain reaching a threshold and substitute with a different sensation and reaction which could be physical and/or emotional. A deep state of calm can come over you, and if my watching Samurai has taught me anything, the deadliest ones are the calmest :) As a bonus, it could short circuit going into a state of shock related to emotions and traumatic stress reducing the consequences of being greatly hurt.
If you felt this way you would know you have considerable damage, but at least your brain wouldn't be fighting your need to continue as if you weren't in pain. Although, you would still be gimpy if the damage were severe enough. That's something useful for a soldier, and anybody in a very traumatic situation.
The feeling of pain is genetic too. I recall an article about how redheaded people have different genetics that allow them a higher sensitivity to pain. They literally do hurt more than we do from the same stimulus. It would seem to follow to me that there is genetic variations in how we handle pain in other populations too, to what extent I don't know.
As for the multiple parents deal you mentioned in an earlier post (beyond the typical mom/dad), I'm divided. In one way it sounds like Eugenics, but this is before they are born. Which is just like GATTACA, but the problem there was how we treated people based on their genetics, and this is about how we treat genetic disorders before birth.
Consider this, we are all just information. Our design plans came from our parents, but they were defective, as every plan is defective to some extent. These allow us enough variation to have adapted differently to different environments. Some traits are purely aesthetic which I share your concern, but other traits are more functional, like diabetes Type I and Down Syndrome.
Now, what if you could see all the information of your prospective child and understand the defects (that we know of) with the knowledge of how to fix them? Is it right to deny them that information that would lead towards proper functioning? Is it right to deny them information that would lead to enhanced functioning?
We might see it this way. Two parents can construct design plans that are quite suitable to us sustaining life and continuing to evolve naturally. Or we can construct design plans that get rid of all functioning defects by merging enough information from enough people. Interestingly enough this seems to be restricted to one man/many females. So having 14 mothers could give you strength, resilience, and a high functioning body. That's a neat idea with problematic implications.
I don't have a problem with the idea of having 15 parents, or two parents with the gifted information from 13 other people. Whichever way works best for society, or those people. Not when it leads towards the elimination of true defects. I can imagine that's difficult for people, but we are talking about before conception even. Down Syndrome may disappear in this world, along with many other defects simply because we saw the future and could change it. It's not about acceptance of a living being and granting them equality, love, and compassion, but impetus to take reasonable action.
On the other hand, making elective modifications and merging information just to try and create the most beautiful people to us, may end up just making us very shallow and superficial hotties. Practically, it will get racist and bigoted and the terms cultural and racial genocide will take on different meaning. Something like this could be forced upon people in the same way rape was used to alter genetics, but just more evil and perhaps hidden. Basically people suck and inevitably a few people will use this in terrible ways.
Yeah, it's not fair to those of us around now too. Unless I could save up and pay Brad Pitt, George Clooney, John Holmesian gentleman, and a few football players to merge information with me. Kind hard to turn it down then, unless it's priced like our current medical industry prices shit :)
Maybe we could make better people. Who knows. Giving our track record, I'll bet the opposite.
(Score: 2) by Arik on Monday October 03 2016, @01:07AM
That's already what happens when you take a mortal wound, at least if you are paying attention on that level.
If laughter is the best medicine, who are the best doctors?
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 29 2016, @11:48AM
I expect that laws preventing you from going abroad to get experimental/unethical health care will fall pretty flat. Especially if those procedures aren't very affordable.
My real fear is that China will stop being the Wild West of genetics, regenerative medicine, and cloning. Not Mexico. If China starts doing more than paying lip service to ethicists, then you can talk about the NWO.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 1) by Francis on Thursday September 29 2016, @12:54PM
We have sensors, they're called nerves, and there's no particular reason why you need to feel pain just because the nerves are telling you to.
One of the few alternative treatments that does actually work is hypnosis. Granted, it doesn't work for everything, but it is particularly effective for pain. Therapy also tends to work fairly well.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday September 29 2016, @11:44AM
I'll only be concerned if they prevent people from going to China for banned medical treatments, or if China shapes up its ethical standards. China doesn't have the religious or ethical hangups that the U.S. does, but they could pretend to care.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by t-3 on Thursday September 29 2016, @12:36PM
I don't think it would be properly described as "shaping up" Chinese ethics, rather than "westernizing" them.
(Score: 4, Informative) by Phoenix666 on Thursday September 29 2016, @12:57PM
I don't think that's entirely accurate either. There are Chinese ethics, but they are not particularly adhered to on the mainland. Taiwan, yes, Hong Kong, yes, Chinese Diaspora, yes. Mainland, not really. The Communists have done a lot of very thorough indoctrination to eradicate the Four Olds [wikipedia.org]. The Cultural Revolution was a horror, but its legacy remains. Deep in the night of the small village hut in the hinterland, there are traditional Chinese ethics. Come morning, it's put on the happy peasant face.
So "shaping up" mainland ethics to Chinese ethics would be a step up.
Washington DC delenda est.
(Score: 2) by sjames on Thursday September 29 2016, @05:40PM
The pain free thing is more likely to create an amputee than a super soldier. There are people now who have a genetic quirk that eliminates the ability to feel pain. They have to learn to constantly check themselves for injuries of all kinds and have frequent medical exams to detect conditions the rest of us couldn't NOT know we have. If their parents and then they are VERY diligent, they may not end up with amputations, crippling injuries, or early death, but it's quite difficult.
Without the aversive feedback of pain, we aren't very good at self preservation. For example. [nbcnews.com]