The mtDNA of Human Rights

Mitochondrial replacement therapy is a process whereby a child is created by combining the nuclear DNA of two people wishing to have a child with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) donated by a third person. It poses a new question as to the extent of a person's right to know the identity of those from whom their DNA is inherited. In commentary upon Turkmendag's paper, I evaluate the consistency of UK regulation of this issue with the European Convention of Human Rights. Under UK law, a person created using donated mtDNA is only entitled to information about the procedure which does not identify the donor. I argue that this approach is consistent with the previous European Court of Human Rights and UK judicial decisions on the rights of individuals to information about their identity and ancestry and with the deeper foundational principle which Kai Möller argues the Convention protects existential self-understanding. I conclude that, as mtDNA has not been proven to affect an individual's life choices and outward characteristics to the extent that gamete donation does, it is acceptable to prioritize the interests that anonymous donation protects over the desire of the recipient to know the identity of their donor

Biology · Convention · Donation · Human rights · Law and economics · Mitochondrial DNA · Political science · Right to know · Sociology · Ethics and Legal Issues in Pediatric Healthcare · Law · Organ Donation and Transplantation · Philosophy · Reproductive Health and Technologies · Genetics

• Reinterpreting “genetic identity” in the regulatory and ethical context of heritable genome editing

  Open Access•Ying-Qi Liaw, Ilke Turkmendag et al.•New Genetics and Society•2021

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• The "We" in the "Me

  Open Access•Barbara Prainsack•Science Technology & Human Values•2018

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