The Next Step in Human Evolution

 by Daniel Qi Writing grade 9-10 class

  

Every one in six thousand five hundred babies are born with a serious mitochondrial disorder. This common issue, a DNA defect in the mitochondria (which causes many chronic diseases), can be solved through genetic engineering. Human genetic engineering is the key to the future of human evolution as children can be genetically engineered to save siblings from fatal diseases, modified to be more intelligent and have stronger immune systems, and most importantly, family related illnesses such as mitochondrial defects can be eliminated.         

           

There are babies who are referred to as the "saviour sibling". These are children who are genetically engineered to provide matching tissues to help cure an elder sibling who is ill. For instance, Zain Hashmi, a six-year-old boy with a fatal genetic blood disorder, who's only chance is a bone marrow transplant from a common blood type sibling. His mother's eggs were tested to find one that is suitable to save Zain. His new baby brother saved Zain's life and his parents were grateful. Not all cases however have a happy ending. Many people argue about the ethical issues of "saviour siblings". On the other hand, the pros of this type of genetic modification out weighs the cons. Many fatal and chronic diseases can be greatly slowed or cured entirely.

           

Even healthy children can benefit from this technology through the testing of the mother's eggs for the best child. Many diseases can be screened not to happen in the first place, in a process called IVF-ET (In Vitro Fertilization and Embryo Transfer). Parents can select a child that will not contract a family related illness such as heart disease. Children may be selected for physical traits such as eye or hair colour. The most important idea is that children can be selected to have a strong immunity to disease and become very intelligent. Every parent wants the best for their child and this would allow them to give their child a more happy life. Some people say it's not safe to allow the practice right now and they are right. Selective traits are practiced on animals to make sure there would be no issues later in humans.

           

One type of genetic engineering already proven to be possible is the mitochondrial transfer. This practice essentially allows for a three parent child, where the mother's defective mitochondrial DNA is replaced with DNA from a donor. In late April of this year, it was confirmed that the team at the Institute for Reproductive Medicine and Science of St. Barnabas has successfully produced 30 babies through this process. These transfers allow the parents to avoid passing these genetic defects to their child. Common mitochondrial diseases may cause diabetes, degeneration of nerves, or even blindness. Once the cause of the disease is found to be a mitochondrial genetic disorder it's too late, the child would have to live with the disease forever as the DNA is locked in their cells. 

This process has been tested to work on macaque monkeys; in 2009, Dr. Mitalipov and his researchers took eggs from two different populations (one from India, another from China). They transferred a foreign nucleus to the egg. The experiment's results were ground breaking; the infant monkeys were completely healthy even with DNA from two different populations of monkeys. "The monkey model is useful in understanding the early embryonic development, where the monkey can stand in for the human," says DR. Behringer a geneticist at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Although yet to be proven to work with humans, it will most likely work in the near future.

           

In the end, genetic defects plague the human population and this is the best solution for now. Genetic engineering is important to our evolutionary future, the fatal diseases we have can be cured and future generations can be genetically modified to be superior to humans today. The world is a harsh place and humans are far from perfect. With genetic defects that are fatal, our best solution is staring us in the face. Our technology is now almost to the point where we can control the course of our evolution, so why should we pass on a chance to improve ourselves?