Tri-parent Baby Technology and Preservation of Lineage: An Analysis from the Perspective of Maqasid al-Shari’ah Based Islamic Bioethics

Abstract

Tri-parent baby technology is an assisted reproductive treatment which aims to minimize or eliminate maternal inheritance of mutated mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). The technology became popular following the move by the United Kingdom in granting license to a group of researchers from the Newcastle Fertility Centre, Newcastle University to conduct research on the symptoms of defective mtDNA. This technology differs from other assisted reproductive technology because it involves the use of gamete components retrieved from three different individuals. Indirectly, it affects the preservation of lineage which is important from an Islamic point of view. This paper aims to analyze and discuss the implications of the tri-parent technology on preservation of lineage from the perspective of Maqasid al-Shari'ah based the Islamic bioethics. The analysis shows that there are a few violations of the preservation of lineage, hence the tri-parent baby technology should not be permitted.

Psychological and Societal Impacts of Unknown Descent and The Islamic Objective of Nasab. A Preliminary Study of Chosen Biomedical Technologies

“…The Islamic Fiqh Academy has recently ruled the nonpermissibility of the procedure, for reason of mixing of nasab, and a number of authors advise caution in the matter from a maqāsid-based Islamic bioethical approach. 65 It is not clear how far this or similar future procedures leading to human beings with three or more parents may impact the individual and society. The mixing of nasab in these cases is obvious, but can the psychological impact on individual and society be assessed at all?…”