(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Britain on Tuesday became the first country in the world to allow the creation of babies with DNA from three people after MPs voted for the controversial procedure.
Lawmakers at the House Commons voted by 382 to 128, a majority of 254, in favour of allowing the creation of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) babies with DNA from three people, a move aimed at preventing serious inherited diseases being passed on from mother to child.
Under the change to the laws on IVF, as well as receiving the usual "nuclear" DNA from its mother and father, the embryo would also include a small amount of healthy so-called mDNA from a woman donor.
"Families who know what it is like to care for a child with a devastating disease are best placed to decide whether mitochondrial donation is the right option for them," said Jeremy Farrar, director of health charity Wellcome Trust,
"We welcome this vote to give them that choice."
Procedure to begin next year
The bill is expected to be rubber-stamped by the House of Lords, the upper chamber of parliament, later this month, paving way for the procedure to begin next year.
The change could apply to up to 2,500 women of reproductive age in Britain with hereditary mitochondrial diseases but opponents say it opens the way to the possibility of "designer babies" in future.
Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) is passed through the mother and mitochondrial diseases cause symptoms ranging from poor vision to diabetes and muscle wasting.
Mitochondria are structures in cells which generate the energy that allows the human body to function.
Health officials estimate around 125 babies are born with the mutations in Britain every year.
The treatment is known as "three-parent" in vitro fertilisation (IVF) because the babies, born from genetically modified embryos, would have DNA from a mother, a father and from a female donor.
It is designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases, incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect around one in 6,500 children worldwide.
The process involves intervening in the fertilisation process to remove mitochondria, which act as tiny energy-generating batteries inside cells, and which, if faulty, can cause inherited conditions such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders, blindness and muscular dystrophy.
Mitochondrial DNA is separate from DNA found in the cell nucleus and does not affect human characteristics such as hair or eye colour, appearance or personality traits.
'Unimaginably cruel'
International charities, advocacy groups and scientists urged Britain to pass laws to allow the treatment, saying it brought a "first glimmer of hope" for some families of having a baby who could live without suffering.
"A vote in favour of these regulations will enable progress in life-saving treatments and give hope to hundreds of families in the UK and internationally," said Aisling Burnand, chief executive of the Association of Medical Research Charities.
"No medical advance is without risk. However, the robust scientific evidence, positive ethical opinion and broad public support for these regulations mean the time is now right."
In an open letter to lawmakers, 11 international campaign groups including the US United Mitochondrial Disease Foundation described the condition as "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," they wrote.
Critics say the technique will lead to the creation of genetically modified "designer babies".
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