UK becomes first country in the world to allow 'THREE PARENT' babies as MPs pass vote
BRITAIN will become the first country in the world to allow so-called 'three parent babies', after MPs voted to approve a change in law.
MPs voted 382 to 128 in favour of an amendment to the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which will allow the creation of IVF babies with DNA from three different people.
Mitochondrial donation techniques aimed at preventing serious inherited diseases will now be legalised, subject to any amendments made in the House of Lords.
The debate has divided opinion between experts and charities backing the treatments and opponents who say the move marks the start of a slippery slope towards "designer" babies.
Research has shown mitochondrial donation could help almost 2,500 women of reproductive age in the UK.
All are at risk of transmitting harmful DNA mutations in the mitochondria, tiny rod-like power plants in cells, onto their children and future generations.
Mitochondrial donation would allow children to be conceived with genetic material from a trio of individuals.
As well as receiving normal 'nuclear' DNA from its mother and father, a child would also have a minuscule amount of healthy mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) from a woman donor.
Mitochondrial diseases can be devastating, affecting major organs and causing symptoms ranging from poor vision to diabetes and muscle wasting.
International charities and campaigners wrote an open letter to MPs urging them to vote for the change in the law, saying it "offers families the first glimmer of hope that they might be able to have a baby that will live without pain and suffering".
Signatories include groups from the US, France, Germany, Spain and Australia. They said: "Mitochondrial disease is unimaginably cruel. It strips our children of the skills they have learned, inflicts pain that cannot be managed, and tires their organs one by one until their little bodies cannot go on any more."
Explaining 'Three Parent Babies' Procedure - This Morning
No more sinister than a blood transfusion
However, Dr Paul Knoepfler, associate professor at the University of California, was reported by the Telegraph as saying there were "specific unknown risks to future generations" if three-parent babies were allowed.
He said: "There are numerous serious risks associated with this technology. These include most notably the possibility that developmentally disabled or deceased babies will be produced.
"Aberrations could lead to developmental defects in babies or also manifest in later life as increased rates of ageing of cancer."
Other supporters of an amendment to the law include IVF pioneer and broadcaster Lord Winston, who told the Daily Telegraph the procedure was "no more sinister than a blood transfusion".
He said: "Transfusing mitochondria is not unlike transfusing red blood cells in a case of severe anaemia – the main difference being that the mitochondrial treatments last into future generations."
