They show it is possible to repair a tiny part of a human egg cell that, when broken, causes a host of awful inherited genetic diseases. Those diseases cause disability and the death for many children and adults. What is equally remarkable is that the treatment they report is illegal in Britain, Germany, Costa Rica, Norway and Sweden and would be illegal to provide using federal dollars in the United States.

What did the Oregon scientists do? And why is it so ethically controversial?

Mitochondria are the batteries of human cells. They convert oxygen and nutrients into a chemical that is the source of the energy that allows chromosomes to move and recombine and, once a sperm arrives, a fertilized embryo to grow. Every cell in your body has mitochondria inherited from your mother’s egg. When these little cellular engines have a genetic problem, it can make for terrible diseases in any child that inherits them.


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