Three is no longer a crowd

We are even closer to seeing Britain become the first country in the world to allow a three person baby to be born through IVF, as draft rules were announced last week to regulate the process. This is in an attempt to help mothers with faulty mitochondria bear healthy children. Mitochondria are the ‘powerhouses’ of cells, where respiration occurs, and contain 0.2% of genetic material. They are inherited solely from the mother. If the DNA in them is mutated, then this can result in children inheriting mitochondrial disease, which severely affects 1 in 6500 children – more than that affected by childhood cancer.

These disease-free IVF babies would be created with the genetic material from the two parents but using a donor embryo with the nucleus removed. This would mean the baby would inherit the donor’s mitochondria but only the parents’ DNA. The draft rules currently proposed suggest that the children will not be able to find out the identity of the donor – in a similar manner to that of organ donors. These regulations still need to be reviewed as part of a public consultation but could be legislation by early 2015. It is predicted that only ten cases a year would qualify for the procedure, as only the worst affected women would be eligible. The Department of Health fully backs the proposals and have stated that the review is not about whether it should be permitted or not but merely about how we should regulate it. While some herald this as a great start towards combating mitochondrial disease, others are much more sceptical about the ethics behind this and claim it is one step further towards ‘designer babies’.