A baby with three parents' DNA was born following a controversial fertility procedure at a Mexican clinic, reports The New York Times.
The baby boy was born in New York to a couple from Jordan, according to the article. The child is the first to be called a "three-parent baby," though scientists contend that term is misleading.
The method that helped the Jordanian couple conceive is controversial because it uses genetic material from the couple wanting a child as well as a donor, reports The New York Times. The goal with this method, the report states, is to overcome flaws in a parent's mitochondria that can cause serious illnesses in babies.
The technique that led to the baby boy's birth was to move the DNA from an egg of the mother, who had mutated mitochondria, and place it in the egg of a healthy egg donor — after first removing the healthy donor's nuclear DNA from her egg cell, according to the article. That egg was then fertilized.
Prior to the most recent birth, the Jordanian couple had two children. Both had the mitochondrial disease, Leigh syndrome, and died.
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