VOA健康报道2023 英国诞生首批三亲婴儿（在线收听）

For the first time, a new process that uses the genetic material of three people has resulted in the birth of several babies in Britain.

在英国，一项使用三个人的遗传物质的新技术首次使几个婴儿出生。

The experimental process has been used before in Mexico and the United States.

这一实验过程以前曾在墨西哥和美国使用过。

Britain's fertility regulator said Wednesday that the parents used a process which was approved with some restrictions in 2015.

英国生育监管机构周三表示，这些父母使用的方法在2015年获得了批准，但有一些限制。

The story was first reported by The Guardian newspaper.

《卫报》最先报道了这一消息。

Britain's Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said only that fewer than five babies were born as a result of the process.

英国人类受精和胚胎学管理局表示，使用该方法出生的婴儿不到五个。

The treatment is supposed to prevent the babies from inheriting rare genetic diseases.

这种方法旨在防止婴儿遗传罕见的遗传病。

The treatment of combining DNA from a mother, father and an egg donor is supposed to help women who have a genetic problem that can be passed to their babies.

将母亲、父亲和卵子捐赠者的DNA结合起来的治疗方法有望帮助那些有遗传问题的女性，这些问题可能会遗传给她们的孩子。

The problem is in the mitochondria of some women.

问题存在于一些女性的线粒体中。

Mitochondria are parts of some cells in the body that provide energy.

线粒体是身体中提供能量的某些细胞的一部分。

However, scientists say the mitochondria in some women can pass genetic problems on to their babies.

然而，科学家表示，一些女性体内的线粒体可能会将遗传问题遗传给她们的孩子。

The genetic defects can cause muscular dystrophy, epilepsy, heart problems and intellectual disabilities.

基因缺陷可能会导致肌肉萎缩、癫痫、心脏问题和智力障碍。

Experts say the genetic problems affect about one in 200 children born in Britain.

专家表示，在英国，每200个出生的孩子中就有1人受到遗传问题的影响。

So far, 32 patients have been given permission to receive the treatment.

到目前为止，已有32名患者获准接受这种治疗。

The process involves doctors taking genetic material from the mother's egg and then adding it to a donor's egg.

这一过程包括医生从母亲的卵子中提取遗传物质，然后将其添加到捐赠者的卵子中。

The donor's egg has healthy mitochondria, but doctors remove the rest of its important DNA.

捐赠者的卵子有健康的线粒体，但医生会去除其重要DNA的其余部分。

Doctors fertilize the new egg, so it becomes an embryo and they put it into the mother's womb.

医生使新的卵子受精，使其成为胚胎，然后将其放入母亲的子宫。

Scientists say using this process results in the new embryo having less than one percent of the genetic material from the egg's donor.

科学家表示，使用这种方法培育的新胚胎拥有来自卵子捐赠者的不到1%的遗传物质。

Scientists at England's Newcastle University supervised the treatment.

英国纽卡斯尔大学的科学家监督了这项治疗。

The Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority said Tuesday that it was still "early days" of the treatment.

人类受精和胚胎学管理局周二表示，目前这种治疗方法仍处于“早期”阶段。

But the government body said it hoped the doctors and scientists who worked on the treatment would soon publish more information.

但政府机构表示，希望研究该疗法的医生和科学家能尽快公布更多信息。

The agency said all women undergoing the treatment must receive approval and must have no other way of preventing disease.

该机构表示，所有接受这种治疗的女性都必须获得批准，并且不得有其他预防疾病的方法。

There are many critics of the treatment.

有很多人批评这种治疗方法。

They say there are other ways to prevent disease and the treatment has not been fully tested.

他们说，还有其他预防疾病的方法，这种治疗方法还没有经过充分的测试。

Others say this is the first step in creating "designer" babies for parents who want their children to be taller, smarter or have different looks than they do.

另一些人表示，这是为那些希望自己的孩子长得更高、更聪明或长相不同的父母而创造的“定制”宝宝的第一步。

Robin Lovell-Badge is a stem cell expert at the Francis Crick Institute, a research center in London.

罗宾·洛维尔·巴奇是伦敦弗朗西斯·克里克研究所的一名干细胞专家。

Lovell-Badge said the babies need to be followed well into the future.

洛维尔·巴奇说，这些婴儿需要在未来很长一段时间内被跟踪调查。

"It will be interesting to know," he said, "how well the technique worked…whether the babies are free of disease and whether there is any risk of them developing problems later in life."

他说：“我们很想知道，这项技术的效果如何，这些婴儿是否有疾病，以及他们在以后的生活中是否有出现问题的风险。”

One group of scientists published research this year expressing concerns that even a small amount of the problematic DNA from the mother could reproduce as the baby develops in the uterus.

今年，一组科学家发表了一项研究，他们担心，随着婴儿在子宫内发育，来自母亲的少量有问题的DNA也可能会繁殖。

Lovell-Badge said scientists do not understand exactly why this happens and more work needs to be done.

洛维尔·巴奇说，科学家还不清楚发生这种情况的原因，他们需要做更多的工作。