Children could soon have three genetic parents

UK government plans for ‘mitochondrial replacement therapy’ could lead to children with genetic material from three parents being born in 2015.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the new rules will allow clinics to replace an egg cell’s defective mitochondrial DNA with material from a donor egg. Though children born from such a procedure would only inherit a tiny fraction of DNA from the mitochondrial donor, they would still be in some sense the child of three people.

Many doctors and geneticists in the UK have welcomed the move, but critics argue “mitochondrial transfer” could lead to designer babies.

Dr David King, director of Human Genetics Alert, said: “If passed, this will be the first time any government has legalised inheritable human genome modification, something that is banned in all other European countries.

“The techniques have not passed the necessary safety tests so it is unnecessary and premature to rush ahead with legalisation. “

A similar procedure is being considered by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the United States. The FDA’s plans have also faced criticism, with Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society writing in the New York Times that while well-intentioned, “these procedures are deeply problematic in terms of their medical risks and societal implications. Will the child be born healthy, or will the cellular disruptions created by this eggs-as-Lego-pieces approach lead to problems later on? What about subsequent generations? And how far will we go in our efforts to engineer humans?”