There are cheers from many and concerns from some as the first country in the world has approved three-parent babies.
The UK has voted to become the first country to allow the creation of babies from three people.
Overnight British MP’s voted in favour of the bill meaning DNA from two women and one man can be used in IVF.
The procedure, developed by British scientists, allows IVF clinics to replace an egg’s defective mitochondrial DNA with healthy DNA from a female donor, to prevent children suffering debilitating conditions like muscular dystrophy.
For many families the news will be life changing.
A mother who lost seven children to a rare genetic disease told the BBC that she was overwhelmed by the decision.
Sharon Bernardi said “It’s not about being selfish. It’s not about wanting designer babies. It’s not about doing injustice to people with disabilities. It’s about trying to create a healthy baby. It’s about trying to give a child a future.
Seven of Sharon’s children had mitochondrial disease. Six died before they were two-years old, and one, a boy lived till he was 21-years old.
In a free vote in the British Commons, 382 MPs were in favour of the bill and 128 against the technique that stops genetic diseases being passed from mother to child.
Professor Doug Turnbull, who led the team that devised the three-parent technique at Newcastle University, said “This is an important hurdle in the development of this new IVF technique, but we still have the debate in the House of Lords, and importantly the licensing by the HFEA [the fertility regulator].
“Finally, I think the quality of the debate today shows what a robust scientific, ethical and legislative procedure we have in the UK for IVF treatments.
“This is important and something the UK should rightly be proud of.”
But the debate has not pleased all quarters with the Catholic and Anglican Churches in England saying it was was not safe or ethical.
Human Genetics Alert hasve said they have concerns that the move would open the door to designer babies, genetically modified for beauty, intelligence or to be free of disease.
Dr Paul Knoepfler, associate professor at the University of California said that this was uncharted territory. “The children born from this technology would have heritable genetic changes, there are also significant unknown risks to future generations.
“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.”
The Independent explained how it works.
What does mitochondrial donation involve?
There are three techniques but only one, called pro-nuclear transfer (PNT), is being considered seriously in Britain. This involves transferring the genetic material of the chromosomes within the nucleus of the fertilised egg of an IVF couple into the fertilised egg of a donor which has already had its own nuclear DNA removed. The resulting fertilised egg has the nuclear chromosomes of the mother and father (containing 99.9 per cent of the DNA) and the healthy mitochondrial DNA of the donor woman (containing the remaining 0.01 per cent). Once the resulting embryo reaches a certain stage of development (known as the blastocyst) it is transplanted into the womb of the IVF patient.
In Australia the procedure is still illegal.
The regulations will now to passed to the House of Lords which is expected to give is approval within the next two weeks.
The first three-parent IVF embryo could be created later this year, with the first birth in 2016.
What do you think of three-parent babies?
Top Comments
Please stop calling these embryos three PARENT babies. DNA does not a parent make. These embryo's will contain the DNA of three human beings - and at LEAST one very generous human being. The use of casual incorrect language may put people who don't know the details offside. Having to undergo fertility treatment, no matter what type/how invasive is HARD, no need to make it harder.
A few of these commenters here seem not to understand how this works. It's not a third parent, exactly, it's a mitochondria donor. It is merely replacing the unhealthy mtDNA with healthy mtDNA. Babies born this way will end up with around 0.1% of their genetic code being made up by the donor.
It's amazing and it means that people will be born without having to suffer.
http://www.iflscience.com/h...
I have been reading about Professor Doug Turnbull who led the research team. How amazing and incredible that we have people in the world like this!
What people also don't realise, is that he has spent decades leading research to help people who suffer from michondrial disease. This is just one of the measures that his team have developed, so it's not "taking away" from other research - it is complimenting other research.
I am awed at the intelligence and dedication of people like that. I'm glad that there a few here who can see this for what it really is - to help stop suffering and the advancement of our species. I find it utterly amazing and a huge contribution to humankind.