First three-parent babies ‘this year’
DOCTORS have three women lined up to give birth to Britain’s first three-parent babies after getting the green light from the fertility regulator.
The first are ready to have IVF using a second woman’s DNA and could be pregnant in months, with any offspring having two mothers and a father.
Yesterday, a Newcastle fertility clinic was granted the only licence to replace a mother’s defective genetic material with healthy DNA from another woman.
In the biggest leap forward for fertility treatment since IVF itself, the clinic will now seek licences for up to three women under 40.
Britain’s first three- parent baby could be born to two mums who know each other, with eligible women understood to have asked friends to be egg donors. But while the baby will technically have two mothers, the second will have no real genetic link to the child, contributing only 0.1 per cent of her DNA.
The technique is designed to prevent diseases caused by faults in mitochondria, the tiny ‘engine rooms’ that power human cells.
The Newcastle Fertility Centre at Life clinic was given the go-ahead three months after the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority allowed mitochondrial donation for women with severe genetic conditions.
The controversial technique, which critics fear could pave the way for designer babies, is a lifeline for up to 3,000 women in danger of passing on deadly mitochondrial diseases such as muscular dystrophy. Professor Sir Doug Turnbull, of the Wellcome Centre for Mitochondrial research at Newcastle University, said: ‘Mitochondria diseases can be devastating. This is a momentous day.’
Critics fear mitochondrial donation could become a ‘slippery slope’ that will eventually used by infertile couples, although that is strictly banned at the moment.
Mark Bhagwandin, of the pro-life charity Life, said: ‘It is at the very least reckless and irresponsible given that we have absolutely no idea what the long-term consequences are.’
But Robert Meadowcroft, chief executive at the charity Muscular Dystrophy UK, said: ‘This is wonderful news for the many women we know who have faced heartbreak while trying to start their own family.’