MPs say yes to three-person babies

By James Gallagher Health editor, BBC News website February, 3rd. 2015

In an historic move, MPs have voted in favour of the creation of babies with DNA from two women and one man.

The UK is now set to become the first country to introduce laws to allow the creation of babies from three people.

In a free vote in the Commons, 382 MPs were in favour and 128 against the technique that stops genetic diseases being passed from mother to child.

During the debate, ministers said the technique was "light at the end of a dark tunnel" for families.

Proponents said the backing was "good news for progressive medicine".

The Chief Medical Officer Prof Dame Sally Davies said a yes vote would put the UK at the forefront of scientific development.

A further vote is required in the House of Lords. It everything goes ahead then the first such baby could be born next year.

Critics say they will continue to fight against the technique that they say raises too many ethical and safety concerns.

 Life-saving

The technique, which was developed in Newcastle, should help women like Sharon Bernardi, from Sunderland, who lost all seven of her children to mitochondrial disease.

Sharon Bernardi, who lost seven children to a genetic disease : "I’m just overwhelmed"

Mitochondria are the tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the body that convert food into useable energy. They have their own DNA which does not affect characteristics such as appearance.

Defective mitochondria, which are passed down only from the mother, lead to brain damage, muscle wasting, heart failure and blindness.

The technique uses a modified version of IVF to combine the DNA of the two parents with the healthy mitochondria of a donor woman.

It results in babies with 0.1% of their DNA from the second woman and is a permanent change that would be passed down through the generations.

 Debate

In the Commons debate, Public Health Minister Jane Ellison told the House : "This is a bold step for parliament to take, but it is a considered and informed step.

Fiona Bruce : "There will be no going back for society" "This is world leading science within a highly respected regulatory regime.

"And for the many families affected, this is light at the end of a very dark tunnel."

Fiona Bruce, the MP for Congleton, countered : "[This] will be passed down generations, the implications of this simply cannot be predicted.

"But one thing is for sure, once this alteration has taken place, as someone has said, once the gene is out of the bottle, once these procedures that we’re asked to authorise today go ahead, there will be no going back for society."

The debate in Commons also repeatedly struggled with whether the move would constitute "genetic modification".

Robert Flello, who represents Stoke-on-Trent South, said he feared "families will be let down tragically" due to the uncertainties in the technique and that society would be "up in arms" if this was genetically modified crops.

But Frank Dobson, a former former health secretary, argued uncertainty was "the nature of medicine and science" and that IVF would not have gone ahead if absolute certainty was needed.

 Uncertainty

Last week the Catholic and Anglican Churches in England said the idea was not safe or ethical, not least because it involved the destruction of embryos.

Other groups, including Human Genetics Alert, say the move would open the door to further genetic modification of children in the future - so-called designer babies, genetically modified for beauty, intelligence or to be free of disease.

Rachel Kean has a family history of mitochondrial disease and says the technique could be hugely beneficial

David King, from the campaign group, said : "Once you cross the ethical line, it is very hard not to take the next step of designer babies."

Dr Gillian Lockwood, a reproductive ethicist, told the BBC it was a "small change" in the legislation.

"The biggest problem is that this has been described as three-parent IVF. In fact it is 2.001-parent IVF," she said.

"Less than a tenth of one per cent of the genome is actually going to be affected. It is not part of what makes us genetically who we are.

"It doesn’t affect height, eye colour, intelligence, musicality."

 Safety concerns

A review by the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, as well as a public consultation by the fertility regulator, argued the creation of three-person babies was ethical.

Three scientific reviews by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) suggest the technique is "not unsafe".

Yet some scientists argue those reviews were flawed.

Dr Ted Morrow, from the University of Sussex, believes there are still uncertainties.

"I have some concerns about the safety, I’m really not happy that the reviews have been as exemplary as other people think they are."

Prof Lisa Jardine, former chair of the HFEA, said the safety issue was a "red herring".

"All of those issues have been investigated," she said. "The scientific committees have said there is no evidence this procedure is unsafe but like all good scientists, they say it will require careful progress."

Bishop of Swindon Dr Lee Rayfield said this procedure was a "massive step" and some of his colleagues were concerned about how it was going to be regulated once approved.

"If the safeguards are there, the Church of England will be behind this," he added.

Rachel Kean, whose aunt died from mitochondrial disease, told BBC Breakfast that a yes vote would "prevent some of the cruellest and most devastating diseases, not just for the next generation but generations after".

She said there had been an "unprecedented" amount of scrutiny into the regulation and a lot of misinformation about "designer babies".

If politicians vote it through, then the HFEA is expected to give Newcastle a licence to carry out the procedure.

The first attempt could take place this year, which could lead to the first birth in 2016.

The Church of England’s view :

Another presentation of the topic :

 An article from THE INDEPENDENT

The Independent News > UK > UK Politics ’Three-parent babies’ : Britain votes strongly in favour of law change

Britain set to become first country in the world to permit the creation of IVF babies with DNA from three different people

STEVE CONNOR SCIENCE EDITOR

TUESDAY 03 FEBRUARY 2015 Britain is set to become the first country in the world to pass a law making it legal for the creation of so-called “three parent” IVF( in vitro fertilisation) babies after the House of Commons voted overwhelmingly in favour of the controversial technique of mitochondrial donation. During a 90 minute debate on the floor of the house, MPs on both sides of the chamber spoke passionately in favour of the process of combining the DNA of three people into one embryo in order to allow women carrying mitochondrial disorders to have healthy children. Following the division at the end of the debate, 382 MPs voted in favour of an amendment making the technique legal, with 128 voting against – a majority of 254, which was bigger than expected. The regulations will now be passed to the House of Lords which is expected to give its approval within the next two weeks. The law allowing the licensing of mitochondrial donation will then come into effect in October, opening the way for the first licence to be issued later this year and the first birth of a three-parent baby in 2015. The health minister Jane Ellison told the House that mitochondrial donation is like changing the battery pack of the cells with a new set of batteries and emphasised that it will not lead to the slippery slope of genetically modified “designer babies” with enhanced traits. “These regulations can only be applied to severe mitochondrial diseases. This is not a slippery slope,” Ms Ellison told MPs at the end of the debate. “For many families affected this is the light at the end of the tunnel,” she said. About 2,500 women of child-bearing age in Britain are thought to be at risk of passing on mitochondrial disorders to their children. Scientists at Newcastle University, which already has a licence for research on IVF embryos using a technique for mitochondrial donation, said they expect to apply for a clinical licence later this year.

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