Esther Braun |
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03.09.2024-27.09.2024
The ethics of mitochondrial replacement techniques for treating infertility
The overall aims of this research project are:
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Providing an ethical assessment of MRTs for the treatment of infertility by
- Evaluating the risks and benefits of MRTs for the treatment of infertility in comparison to their application for preventing mitochondrial disease.
- Determining whether there are ethical reasons to treat the application of MRTs to prevent mitochondrial disease differently than their use as an infertility treatment.
- Developing policy recommendations for the regulation of MRTs as an infertility treatment from a medical ethics perspective.
Restricting the use of MRTs to the context of hereditary mitochondrial disease, as is the case in the UK and Australia, seems to presuppose that there is a morally relevant difference between the use of MRTs for the prevention of mitochondrial disease and as an infertility treatment. I will therefore examine whether there are clinical or ethical reasons to treat both applications differently. If there are no such reasons, the legal regulations in the UK and Australia seem inconsistent, and regulation of both applications should be treated in the same way.
Whether a novel medical procedure should be permissible (in the context of clinical trials) generally depends on whether the (potential) harms involved with that procedure are justified in relation to its potential benefits. Treating the use of MRTs for the prevention of mitochondrial disease differently from its application in the context of infertility might therefore be justified either because one of the applications poses a greater risk or leads to a greater potential benefit. I will examine several arguments for regarding the use of MRTs in the context of infertility treatment as either more risky or less beneficial than in the context of mtDNA disease.
Regarding risk, it could be claimed that using MRTs in the context of mitochondrial diseases is less risky than in the context of infertility, and that therefore, restricting the use of MRT to the former context would be justified. I will review the scientific literature on MRTs to evaluate the risks posed by the application of MRTs in each context.
Regarding the benefit of each use of MRTs, it could be argued that some MRTs cure mitochondrial disease, while infertility treatment merely creates a new child that is genetically related to the intended parents. If we assume that curing diseases leads to a greater benefit than the creation of healthy children that are genetically related to their parents, treating both applications of MRTs differently may be justified. To examine this argument, I will examine whether MRTs should be regarded as a medical treatment or as the creation of a new person, engaging with the debate on how MRTs affect identity.
The overall expected outcome of this research is to provide ethically well-founded recommendations for the regulation of MRTs as an infertility treatment, which are so far lacking in the medical ethics literature.
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Providing an ethical assessment of MRTs for the treatment of infertility by