Children born from three-parent fertilization (IVF) should function no differently than two-parent children, according to studies conducted by the Center for Family Research at the University of Cambridge. The Center believes that children, regardless of their family structure, function comparatively well socially and emotionally.
British researchers have recently discovered the new three-parent IVF technique to prevent the incidence of mitochondrial disease passed along from mothers to their children. Three-parent IVF involves replacing a mother’s defective mitochondrial DNA with the healthy DNA supplied through female egg donation. As a result, the child born would contain genetic information from three people.
Due to the controversial nature of the technique, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority launched a campaign to gauge public opinion in order to help make their decision on whether or not to permit the technique.
In 2001 the Center conducted a study that investigated families with children who were born through IVF. The study, published in the journal Child Development, assessed the children on several social and emotional terms. The results found that children born through IVF functioned just as well and were not different from children who were adopted or conveived naturally.
In a current study, the Center is examining the functionality of children who are either not genetically related to either parent or just to one. These are children born from a donor egg or sperm or from a surrogate carrier. The study has looked at children against a control group at the ages of one, two, three, seven and ten. For the youngest ages there was some differences in social and emotional adjustments, but as the families progressed there were no differences.
With three-parent IVF, the child born will have DNA from the mother, father, and the third female who supplies the healthy DNA from her egg. In the end, the child will still have the majority of its genes from the parents, and less than one percent from the third female.
The conclusions drawn from their previous studies leads the Center to predict that three-parent IVF children will functional similar to children with two parents – the quality of the family’s relationship is more important than the structure of the family.
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