Two Father Babies (without an Egg Donor?)

Unlike the process of creating 3 parent babies which has very recently become legal in the United Kingdom, this type of human genetic modification was not created to avoid potentially devastating diseases, but to give two father families the opportunity to have babies where both parent's genetics are passed down to their children.

The Process: 

In order to accomplish this, primordial germ cells (which are the stem cells that give rise to sperm/ egg cells) from one of the fathers would be used. Then SOX17 (a regulator of similar to that of human PGC cells that can alter the gene which then alters the fate of the cells) would have to be manipulated along with the cells that are destined to become oocytes. The genetic material inside the woman's egg would then be removed and replaced by the primordial germ cells or in other words the first father's DNA. This new egg, can now be fertilized by the sperm of the second father and a surrogate mother would then have to carry the child.

The Future:

In the near future, an infant could possibly be related to both of the biological fathers by manipulating the stem cells of the male to produce an egg. Using an egg donor and a surrogate where only one of the parents' genetics is passed will be the thing of the past.

Calum MacKellar, a lecturer in bioethics and biochemistry at Edinburgh University in Scotland, says that this will take at least a few years before this is possible. The procedure is being tested, continuously developed, and tried on mice by many scientists. However, there are many who say that it is going to take much longer than 'just a few years away' for this technique to be a viable option. (B)

Controversy:

However, the creation of 'designer babies' is still a very sensitive topic with much controversy. It is difficult enough to make techniques that give infertile or families with history of devastating diseases the possibility of giving birth to healthy babies legal, let alone creating techniques in which the sole aim is so that both parents can equally contribute their DNA.

There are many risks to this procedure as it could produce short lived babies, clones of one of the fathers, and a great possibility of genetic disorders such as mental retardation. Is it ethical to bring a human being into this world with so many risk factors when there are so many different ways, FDA approved, that have been giving two father families health babies for years now? Also there are so many children in the world that are in dire need of adoption. 

With this in mind, there is still a lot of research that needs to be done to fill in the missing puzzle pieces and possibly even calm many of the concerns looming over this controversial idea.  

Links:
(A)  http://www.iflscience.com/health-and-medicine/two-father-babies-could-soon-be-possible-no-egg-donor-required
(B) http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=119924
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