Article ID: CBB895767767

The mtDNA of Human Rights (January 2018)

unapi

Benedict Douglas (Author)


Science, Technology and Human Values
Volume: 43
Issue: 1
Pages: 86-94


Publication Date: January 2018
Edition Details: Special Issue: New Technologies, Developments in the Biosciences and the New Frontiers of Human Rights
Language: English

Mitochondrial replacement therapy is a process whereby a child is created by combining the nuclear DNA of two people wishing to have a child with mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) donated by a third person. It poses a new question as to the extent of a person’s right to know the identity of those from whom their DNA is inherited. In commentary upon Turkmendag’s paper, I evaluate the consistency of UK regulation of this issue with the European Convention of Human Rights. Under UK law, a person created using donated mtDNA is only entitled to information about the procedure which does not identify the donor. I argue that this approach is consistent with the previous European Court of Human Rights and UK judicial decisions on the rights of individuals to information about their identity and ancestry and with the deeper foundational principle which Kai Möller argues the Convention protects existential self-understanding. I conclude that, as mtDNA has not been proven to affect an individual’s life choices and outward characteristics to the extent that gamete donation does, it is acceptable to prioritize the interests that anonymous donation protects over the desire of the recipient to know the identity of their donor.

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Article Noa Vaisman (January 2018) The Human, Human Rights, and DNA Identity Tests. Science, Technology and Human Values (pp. 3-20). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB895767767/

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Authors & Contributors
Greenhough, Beth
Ilke Turkmendag
Saulnier, Katie Michelle
Joly, Yann
Austin Bryan
Suporas, Charles
Concepts
Technoscience; science and technology studies
Privacy
Human rights
Ethics
Law and legislation
Medicine
Time Periods
21st century
Early modern
Modern
Medieval
Ancient
20th century, late
Places
Great Britain
Europe
Uganda
United States
Italy
Germany
Institutions
Google
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