EU to Outline What Tech Can Be Used for Permanent CO2 Removal
The European Commission will outline rules for certifying tools such as Direct Air Carbon Capture and Storage, Bioenergy Carbon Capture and Storage and biochar, according to a document seen by Bloomberg News. All are deemed 'permanent' removal solutions, unlike nature-based fixes like reforestation, which rely on careful management over hundreds of years and can suffer from extreme weather events like fires.
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CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Healthy babies born in Britain after scientists used DNA from three people to avoid genetic disease
Eight healthy babies were born in Britain with the help of an experimental technique that uses DNA from three people to help mothers avoid passing devastating rare diseases to their children, researchers reported Wednesday. Most DNA is found in the nucleus of our cells, and it's that genetic material — some inherited from mom, some from dad — that makes us who we are. But there's also some DNA outside of the cell's nucleus, in structures called mitochondria. Dangerous mutations there can cause a range of diseases in children that can lead to muscle weakness, seizures, developmental delays, major organ failure and death. Testing during the in vitro fertilization process can usually identify whether these mutations are present. But in rare cases, it's not clear. Researchers have been developing a technique that tries to avoid the problem by using the healthy mitochondria from a donor egg. They reported in 2023 that the first babies had been born using this method, where scientists take genetic material from the mother's egg or embryo, which is then transferred into a donor egg or embryo that has healthy mitochondria but the rest of its key DNA removed. The latest research 'marks an important milestone,' said Dr. Zev Williams, who directs the Columbia University Fertility Center and was not involved in the work. 'Expanding the range of reproductive options … will empower more couples to pursue safe and healthy pregnancies.' Using this method means the embryo has DNA from three people — from the mother's egg, the father's sperm and the donor's mitochondria — and it required a 2016 U.K. law change to approve it. It is also allowed in Australia but not in many other countries, including the U.S. Experts at Britain's Newcastle University and Monash University in Australia reported in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday that they performed the new technique in fertilized embryos from 22 patients, which resulted in eight babies that appear to be free of mitochondrial diseases. One woman is still pregnant. One of the eight babies born had slightly higher than expected levels of abnormal mitochondria, said Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell and developmental genetics scientist at the Francis Crick Institute who was not involved in the research. He said it was still not considered a high enough level to cause disease, but should be monitored as the baby develops. Dr. Andy Greenfield, a reproductive health expert at the University of Oxford, called the work 'a triumph of scientific innovation,' and said the method of exchanging mitochondria would only be used for a small number of women for whom other ways of avoiding passing on genetic diseases, like testing embryos at an early stage, was not effective. Lovell-Badge said the amount of DNA from the donor is insignificant, noting that any resulting child would have no traits from the woman who donated the healthy mitochondria. The genetic material from the donated egg makes up less than 1% of the baby born after this technique. 'If you had a bone marrow transplant from a donor … you will have much more DNA from another person,' he said. In the U.K., every couple seeking a baby born through donated mitochondria must be approved by the country's fertility regulator. As of this month, 35 patients have been authorized to undergo the technique. Critics have previously raised concerns, warning that it's impossible to know the impact these sorts of novel techniques might have on future generations. 'Currently, pronuclear transfer is not permitted for clinical use in the U.S., largely due to regulatory restrictions on techniques that result in heritable changes to the embryo,' Williams, of Columbia, said in an email. 'Whether that will change remains uncertain and will depend on evolving scientific, ethical, and policy discussions.' For about a decade, Congress has included provisions in annual funding bills banning the Food and Drug Administration from accepting applications for clinical research involving techniques, 'in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified to include a heritable genetic modification.' But in countries where the technique is allowed, advocates say it could provide a promising alternative for some families. Liz Curtis, whose daughter Lily died of a mitochondrial disease in 2006, now works with other families affected by them. She said it was devastating to be told there was no treatment for her eight-month-old baby and that death was inevitable. She said the diagnosis 'turned our world upside down, and yet nobody could tell us very much about it, what it was or how it was going to affect Lily.' Curtis later founded the Lily Foundation in her daughter's name to raise awareness and support research into the disease, including the latest work done at Newcastle University. 'It's super exciting for families that don't have much hope in their lives,' Curtis said.
CNN
an hour ago
- CNN
Healthy babies born in Britain after scientists used DNA from three people to avoid genetic disease
Eight healthy babies were born in Britain with the help of an experimental technique that uses DNA from three people to help mothers avoid passing devastating rare diseases to their children, researchers reported Wednesday. Most DNA is found in the nucleus of our cells, and it's that genetic material — some inherited from mom, some from dad — that makes us who we are. But there's also some DNA outside of the cell's nucleus, in structures called mitochondria. Dangerous mutations there can cause a range of diseases in children that can lead to muscle weakness, seizures, developmental delays, major organ failure and death. Testing during the in vitro fertilization process can usually identify whether these mutations are present. But in rare cases, it's not clear. Researchers have been developing a technique that tries to avoid the problem by using the healthy mitochondria from a donor egg. They reported in 2023 that the first babies had been born using this method, where scientists take genetic material from the mother's egg or embryo, which is then transferred into a donor egg or embryo that has healthy mitochondria but the rest of its key DNA removed. The latest research 'marks an important milestone,' said Dr. Zev Williams, who directs the Columbia University Fertility Center and was not involved in the work. 'Expanding the range of reproductive options … will empower more couples to pursue safe and healthy pregnancies.' Using this method means the embryo has DNA from three people — from the mother's egg, the father's sperm and the donor's mitochondria — and it required a 2016 U.K. law change to approve it. It is also allowed in Australia but not in many other countries, including the U.S. Experts at Britain's Newcastle University and Monash University in Australia reported in the New England Journal of Medicine Wednesday that they performed the new technique in fertilized embryos from 22 patients, which resulted in eight babies that appear to be free of mitochondrial diseases. One woman is still pregnant. One of the eight babies born had slightly higher than expected levels of abnormal mitochondria, said Robin Lovell-Badge, a stem cell and developmental genetics scientist at the Francis Crick Institute who was not involved in the research. He said it was still not considered a high enough level to cause disease, but should be monitored as the baby develops. Dr. Andy Greenfield, a reproductive health expert at the University of Oxford, called the work 'a triumph of scientific innovation,' and said the method of exchanging mitochondria would only be used for a small number of women for whom other ways of avoiding passing on genetic diseases, like testing embryos at an early stage, was not effective. Lovell-Badge said the amount of DNA from the donor is insignificant, noting that any resulting child would have no traits from the woman who donated the healthy mitochondria. The genetic material from the donated egg makes up less than 1% of the baby born after this technique. 'If you had a bone marrow transplant from a donor … you will have much more DNA from another person,' he said. In the U.K., every couple seeking a baby born through donated mitochondria must be approved by the country's fertility regulator. As of this month, 35 patients have been authorized to undergo the technique. Critics have previously raised concerns, warning that it's impossible to know the impact these sorts of novel techniques might have on future generations. 'Currently, pronuclear transfer is not permitted for clinical use in the U.S., largely due to regulatory restrictions on techniques that result in heritable changes to the embryo,' Williams, of Columbia, said in an email. 'Whether that will change remains uncertain and will depend on evolving scientific, ethical, and policy discussions.' For about a decade, Congress has included provisions in annual funding bills banning the Food and Drug Administration from accepting applications for clinical research involving techniques, 'in which a human embryo is intentionally created or modified to include a heritable genetic modification.' But in countries where the technique is allowed, advocates say it could provide a promising alternative for some families. Liz Curtis, whose daughter Lily died of a mitochondrial disease in 2006, now works with other families affected by them. She said it was devastating to be told there was no treatment for her eight-month-old baby and that death was inevitable. She said the diagnosis 'turned our world upside down, and yet nobody could tell us very much about it, what it was or how it was going to affect Lily.' Curtis later founded the Lily Foundation in her daughter's name to raise awareness and support research into the disease, including the latest work done at Newcastle University. 'It's super exciting for families that don't have much hope in their lives,' Curtis said.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Babies born in UK with DNA from three people to treat inherited disease takes medicine into uncharted territory
Eight babies have been born in the UK with DNA from three people following a procedure to eliminate an incurable inherited disease. It is a major advance for the technique, called mitochondrial donation therapy, designed to prevent a life-limiting, often fatal, illness caused by genetic mutations in the structures that generate energy in all our cells. It is also a test of the UK's permissive, but highly regulated, stance on human embryo research that allowed a technique once criticised for creating "three-parent babies" to proceed. The babies, four girls and four boys - two of them identical twins - were all born in the last five years and are healthy, according to research published in the New England Journal of Medicine. "It's a great success for these families," said Sir Doug Turnbull, emeritus professor at the University of Newcastle who helped pioneer the treatment. "This is a devastating disease with no cure and without this technique, they would not feel that their families were free of mitochondrial disease. This gives them that opportunity." Mitochondrial disease affects around one in 5,000 babies born in the UK. Depending on the number and type of mutations in their mitochondria, the severity and type of disease can vary, but includes neurological, metabolic and developmental disorders. Only women at high risk of passing on severe disease qualify for the procedure, provided though a specialist facility at Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. The identities of the seven families and their babies are being withheld, but a mother of one of the baby boys speaking anonymously said: "The emotional burden of mitochondrial disease has been lifted, and in its place is hope, joy, and deep gratitude." How does the technique work? The procedure involves removing the genetic information from an affected mother's fertilised embryo before inserting it into one from a healthy female donor, from which the genetic information has been removed. Crucially, the hundreds of thousands of diseased mitochondria are left behind, leaving the new embryo with healthy ones present in the donor embryo. Mitochondria contain a tiny amount of their own unique genetic code, so the resulting babies carry DNA from three different people. But because it represents just 0.02% of our total DNA and has no bearing on genetic traits we inherit from our parents, researchers behind the technique, have never liked the "three-parent" moniker. However, the technique - whatever you choose to call it - isn't perfect. A total of 22 women underwent the procedure but only seven became pregnant, resulting in eight births - a 36% success rate. Five of the eight babies were born with no trace of disease. But tests on the other three revealed a small percentage of mutated mitochondria had been carried over during the procedure. Read more from Sky News: While they are at levels too low to cause mitochondrial disease, the babies will require careful follow-ups to ensure they continue to develop normally. "We have designed a study specifically for that purpose," said Professor Bobby McFarland, who leads the service in Newcastle. "That's what is unique about us offering this in Newcastle because there isn't anywhere else in the world that's doing this in a regulated way." While there's good reason to expect the children will develop normally, the procedure does take medicine into new territory. Because mitochondria contain their own genetic code, girls born via the technique will pass that on to any children they may have in future. Changing the "germ-line" in such a way has raised ethical concerns. But for seven new families, and more to follow, the procedure promises to cure a disease that has affected their families for generations.
