Donating cytoplasmic content of an egg

Injecting cytoplasmic content of a donor egg is a relatively new technique that adds some of the cytoplasmic content of a healthy egg into a host egg that is aged or damaged (in which the mitochondria are of poor quality) or that contains mitochondria that carry genetic illness. The cytoplasmic content of the donor egg contains healthy mitochondria that enable the host egg to function better.

A similar question was addressed by Rav David Lau shlita, Chief Rabbi of Israel. He was asked about replacing small segments of DNA to correct genetic illnesses (see Assia 105-106, May 2017, p. 90.) He ruled that replacing the small segments of DNA would not affect the halachic status of the child.

Similarly, injecting cytoplasmic content essentially provides healthy mitochondria that contain a relatively small amount of DNA in them. Therefore, the halachic status of the child would not be affected through this procedure.

Rabbi Meir Orlian