LONDON, DEC. 10, 2000 (ZENIT.org).- A technique for genetically altering
sperm to prevent children from inheriting unwanted characteristics from
their fathers has been patented by Lord Winston, Britain's leading fertility
expert, The Sunday Times reported today.

The technique, developed by Winston in collaboration with researchers in
California, involves modification of a man's germ line cells, which generate
sperm, thus determining the traits passed to his offspring, the newspaper
said.

Although the intention is to use it to eliminate fatal diseases such as
cystic fibrosis, critics fear it could be misappropriated to create designer
babies.

Phillip Koeffler, a co-worker at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los
Angeles, admitted: "This does provide the capability of making designer
babies, and it will be up to society to decide what to do with it."

Carol Readhead, a biologist at the California Institute of Technology in
Pasadena, who has collaborated with Winston on research, said the technology
could also be used to create transgenic animals -- those carrying human
genes, which could become a source of human donor organs, the London
newspaper said. But she agreed the main use would be in man: "It is a
difficult subject, a question which will come up again and again in the new
century."

David King, a former geneticist who now leads the Campaign Against Human
Genetic Engineering, condemned the technique, which he said would create a
social gulf by conferring another advantage on the rich. "The commercial
motive will mean ethical restraints are brushed aside," he said, according
to The Sunday Times.

Although most of the research was done in America, Winston has obtained
grant funding from the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland,
to carry out some of the work at the Hammersmith hospital, west London, the
newspaper said.

The controversial technique involves injecting genetic material directly
into the testicle, using a virus to carry it directly into the developing
germ cells, the paper said. The current method, banned in Britain, involves
injecting DNA into embryos during test-tube procedures. A parliamentary
debate next week is expected to lift that moratorium.

Winston's work does not contravene this law because it is using only sperm
cells, which on their own do not have the capacity to become babies, the
newspaper added.
ZE00121020