Introduction

In the past decade, mitochondrial replacement therapies (MRT) have entered public awareness around the world. These advanced assisted reproductive technologies (ART) primarily promise the means for a small group of families to have a biologically related child without passing on certain heritable mitochondrial diseases. However, these techniques raise safety, social, and ethical issues, which both mirror and depart from concerns raised by ART throughout the past five decades. Regulatory systems for MRT must respond to these concerns while confronting a global context with porous borders, complex stakeholders, and states adopting divergent normative positions. This introductory chapter opens the edited volume, which explores the scientific, social, ethical, and regulatory dimensions of MRT from various disciplinary and geographic perspectives. The chapters that follow seek to aid policymakers and communities in identifying the ethical, legal, and societal norms or decisions they must address as more people seek to access these treatments.