Source: CTV News
Thousands of Canadians use genetic testing kits to find out more about their ancestry and what it means for their health. But now some people who were conceived through sperm donation are using the testing services to track down their biological fathers – whether the fathers want to be found or not.
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Source: Sputnik News
British scientists have received the green light to create the country’s first so-called three parent babies.
The use of mitochondrial therapy been approved by the The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority three years after the therapy was legalized in the country.
Source: Genetic Literacy Project
There was a time when a man could anonymously donate sperm to a couple or woman trying to conceive and everyone could be reasonably sure it would remain a secret. But thanks to home DNA test kits and the internet, those days are over.
Men and women who didn’t know they were conceived with a sperm donor are unexpectedly turning up the family secret when they take DNA tests for fun, for genealogy research or other reasons.
Source: The Sun
Medics plan to use the method on two women who risk passing on genetic diseases to their kids. The unnamed pair have a mutation that leads to myoclonic epilepsy. The ailment hits one in 100,000 people, causing spasms that see lost muscle control, weakness, deafness, dementia and often death. In the treatment, once the mum’s egg is fertilised, the cell nucleus with the bulk of her and the dad’s genetic material is removed. The mutation is left behind, as it only occurs in the mitochondrial DNA which is not present in the nucleus.
Source: The Daily Beast
A New York state man who supplied his sperm for a lesbian couple’s at-home insemination was denied a paternity test by a state appeals court last week, possibly ending his battle for parental rights over the now 3-year-old girl who was born as a result of his donation.
Source: Irish Times
The use of frozen sperm, eggs or embryos after a person’s death by their partner will be permitted following a one-year grieving period under draft legislation, the Oireachtas health committee has heard.
The State’s chief medical officer Dr Tony Holohan briefed the committee on the process of drafting the forthcoming Assisted Human Reproduction (AHR) Bill on Wednesday.
