Abstract
Current strategies for preventing the transmission of mitochondrial disease to offspring
include techniques known as mitochondrial replacement and mitochondrial gene editing. This
technology has already been applied in humans on several occasions, and the first baby with donor
mitochondria has already been born. However, these techniques raise several ethical concerns, among
which is the fact that they entail genetic modification of the germline, as well as presenting safety
problems in relation to a possible mismatch between the nuclear and mitochondrial DNA, maternal
mitochondrial DNA carryover, and the “reversion” phenomenon. In this essay, we discuss these
questions, highlighting the advantages of some techniques over others from an ethical point of view,
and we conclude that none of these are ready to be safely applied in humans.
