Three-Person Babies - The United Kingdom has become the first nation in the world to approve the use of the controversial "three person IVF" to prevent the transmission of incurable genetic diseases.
On Tuesday evening, The House of Lords voted 280 to 48 to permit changes to the law that would allow fertility clinics to conduct mitochondria donation.
According to reports, babies conceived through this IVF technique would have the biological make up of different people - a father, mother and a female donor.
Fertility clinics across the UK can apply for licenses to use the technique from autumn onwards. As a result the first three-person baby could be born as early as 2016.
Despite calls for the technique not to be approved, MP's voted in favor of the new law earlier this month.
"Families who know what it is like to care for a child with a devastating disease are the people best placed to decide whether mitochondria donation is the right option for them," said Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, which supports research into 'IVF' at Newcastle University.
"Parliament is to be commended for a considered and compassionate decision to give these families that choice, with proper safeguard under the UK's internationally-admired regulatory system."
The 'IVF' technique will offer women living with mitochondria diseases the opportunity to bear children without passing incurable diseases to them, therefore removing those conditions from the family line.
Mitochondria are tiny compartments inside nearly every cell of the body that converts food to useable energy. However, genetic defects in the mitochondria could mean that the body would not have enough energy to keep the brain functioning and the heart heating.
The newly approved 'three-person' IVF therapy could eliminate mitochondria diseases by exchanging the affected mother's DNA with that from a female donor.
Reports indicate that technically the 'three-person baby' would have 99.8% of genetic material coming from the father and mother, and 0.2% from the mitochondria donor.
Despite all the positive the new technique holds, those who oppose it argue that this could lead to development of 'designer babies'.
However, Viscount Ridley says "if we do not prevent suffering, it is on our consciences." "Britain has been the first with the most biological breakthroughs. In every case we look back and see we did more good than bad as a result."
