On November 3, 2012 the CBHD Academy of Fellows held its second consultation. The first meeting in April 2011 gathered more than twenty members of the Academy to discuss the legacy of Paul Ramsey and the future of Christian bioethics. One of the purposes of the Academy is to advance scholarship by developing Christian analysis of and responses to new developments in bioethics, particularly those with implications for human dignity. This second consultation was the result of a new initiative to encourage proposals that will foster collaborative scholarship and publications on an emerging issue in bioethics.
The consultation developed by means of a grant process. All members of the Academy of Fellows were invited to form teams to generate proposals for the topic of the consultation. The successful team was led by Dr. Calum MacKellar, a CBHD Fellow and Director of Research for the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics. The theme of the selected consultation proposal was the ethics and theology of synthetic gametes.
“Synthetic gametes” is a term used to describe both sperm and egg cells produced from stem cells, and eggs that have been modified to remove genetic defects found in their mitochondria. Research is ongoing into the techniques involved, but the potential creation of these gametes raises difficult bioethical issues. To date, little Christian or secular bioethical debate has occurred regarding these developments.
As with many areas of biotechnology, the impetus comes from a desire to treat illness. Pursuit of synthetic gametes is primarily a reaction to a group of genetic diseases called maternally-inherited mitochondrial DNA disorders. Cells contain small structures called mitochondria which are unique in having DNA that differs from the rest of the cell’s DNA. This mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from our mothers, not from both mother and father as happens with the rest of our DNA. If a woman has a mutation in her mitochondrial DNA, it will be passed on to all her children. These mutations can lead to a wide range of incurable health problems, with symptoms such as organ failure, stroke, dementia, blindness, and premature death.
Researchers are currently exploring a number of techniques that would allow for the replacement of defective mitochondrial DNA with other DNA free from that mutation. The hope is that doing so would eliminate the mitochondrial DNA disorder. If such modified or synthetic eggs were fertilized, however, the genetic changes would be passed on to offspring and subsequent generations. This would therefore be a germline genetic modification, with all the attendant ethical ramifications. Such modifications have, to date, been viewed as unethical by most authorities. That being said, these modifications are no longer scientifically implausible, since they have been accomplished in animals; therefore it is crucial that the reasons for such ethical proscriptions be revisited and reinforced for the current situation.
A couple of weeks before the consultation, the first reported use of mammalian embryonic stem cells to produce mouse eggs was published.[i] Mouse sperm had been made from stem cells about a year prior. If these procedures were shown to work for human cells, the possibility would exist that eggs could be made from a man’s cells, be fertilized with another man’s sperm, and yield a baby with two genetic fathers. Likewise, babies could be born with two genetic mothers. The potential for such applications raises numerous ethical issues.
For the consultation, a number of relevant ethical and theological issues were presented, with extensive discussion of each topic. The day started with a viewing of In Vitro, a 20-minute drama film made with support from the private British funding agency The Wellcome Trust.[ii] The movie depicts some of the potential social and familial issues that could arise if women were able to inseminate themselves with sperm made from their own cells. Following this, Calum MacKellar examined some of the reasons why it is so important for people to have children genetically related to themselves. He discussed the importance of kinship bonds from both sociological and theological perspectives. The potential new developments raise important questions about identify, especially given the human search for purpose. The monster in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein provided a literary way to explore the importance we place on why we have been made.
David A. Jones, Director of the Anscombe Bioethics Centre in Oxford, England, presented via videoconference on the theological reasons for opposition to donor insemination within the Catholic Church. This discussion focused on the ethical and theological implications of donor gametes for marriage and family. This was followed by an online presentation from CBHD Senior Fellow C. Ben Mitchell, focusing on the philosophical and theological significance of gametes from a child-centered perspective. He noted a lack of theological exploration of the significance of gametes and their ethical status within Protestant circles, while examining the strengths and weaknesses of rights language as a basis for such reflection.
The afternoon sessions explored the ethics of technological developments involved in synthetic gamete creation. CBHD Fellow Brent Waters examined some of the implications of reducing our bodies to collections of parts. Late modern society has reached a point where we both love and abhor our bodies. Finitude and mortality are seen as features to be overcome and eliminated (through enhancement), while in reality they are part of our nature. Significant ramifications follow when we forget this point.
Trevor Stammers, Programme Director in Bioethics & Medical Law at St Mary’s University College, London, evaluated pronuclear transfer and maternal spindle transfer.[iii] These are two of the procedures being developed in the hope that they may overcome inherited mitochondrial DNA disorders. Afterward, CBHD Fellow Agneta Sutton provided an ethical and theological evaluation of two additional procedures, cytoplasmic transfer and blastomere nuclear transfer.[iv] Her presentation emphasized a distinctly Christian challenge to “unconditionally welcome” our children.
The research team is currently developing the presentations for publication. The team also prepared a set of recommendations regarding the ethics of synthetic gametes and embryos, which were discussed and revised at the consultation and are currently being further refined. Upon completion, CBHD will share these publicly to encourage further discussion and reflection on this topic.
Consultation attendees rated the presentations and ensuing discussions highly. This first iteration achieved its aim of bringing Christian bioethics scholars together to work on an important emerging topic. Those who attended were enthusiastic about the discussions and gained insight into an emerging topic that requires further careful reflection and prayer. Engagement with scholars from Christian bioethics centers other than CBHD contributed to fostering further collaborative scholarship. Those who attended the event were joined with a host of online viewers for the Center’s first live-streamed event. The consultation was underwritten by a designated gift from an anonymous donor. As a result of this generous funding the consultation was offered free to the public and the audio and video will be soon be made available through the CBHD website.
[i] Alla Katsnelson, “Mouse Stem Cells Lay Eggs,” Nature October 4, 2012, http://www.nature.com/news/mouse-stem-cells-lay-eggs-1.11545 (accessed January 10, 2013).
[ii] Tom Lloyd, IN VITRO: She Changed The World Forever (Cumbria, UK: Whitewood & Fleming, 2011), http://www.invitrofilm.com.
[iii] Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Novel Techniques for the Prevention of Mitochondrial DNA Disorders: An Ethical Review (2012), http://www.nuffieldbioethics.org/mitochondrial-dna-disorders
[iv] Ibid.
