Babies with three biological parents could be conceived as early as next year, after the Health Secretary invited scientists to advise whether he should approve a new IVF technique for preventing severe inherited diseases.
Andrew Lansley has asked the fertility watchdog to convene an expert panel to consider the safety and effectiveness of the procedure, the first step towards possible approval.
The therapy, developed by a team led by Professor Doug Turnbull at Newcastle University, is designed to replace faulty versions of structures called mitochondria inherited from mothers.
Mitochondrial failure can cause fatal liver, neurological and heart conditions, which affect about 100 children in Britain each year.
The treatment involves merging DNA from two fertilised eggs, so that malfunctioning mitochondria are replaced by healthy ones. As mitochondria contain small amounts of DNA, a child conceived that way would inherit genetic material from three parents, though 99.8 per cent would be from the mother and father.
Advertisement
It is illegal to place embryos created that way into the womb, but the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act gave the Health Secretary the power to rescind the ban without primary legislation.
The researchers told David Cameron that they were nearly ready to start treating patients when he visited Newcastle in January, and recently asked Mr Lansley to approve the work. The minister then asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) for scientific advice.
If Mr Lansley approves clinical use of the therapy, his decision is likely to be put to a vote in both Houses of Parliament. If the ban is lifted, Professor Turnbull could apply for a licence to treat patients.
The HFEA committee has asked scientists with relevant expertise to submit evidence by Tuesday, which will be reviewed on March 25. The panel is expected to set out the evidence that Professor Turnbull would have to provide.
He said: “We are doing this work to allow women who carry mitochondrial DNA mutations to have the chance of having normal children. You have only got to look at the distress caused in these families to see the need for this.
Advertisement
“We’re not saying we’re ready to go just yet, but there is a lot of evidence out there to suggest that point is close.”
Josephine Quintavalle, of Comment on Reproductive Ethics, which opposes embryo research, said: “This is a form of genetic engineering which raises serious safety and social concerns, and challenges our concepts of the nature of parenthood.”
The HFEA panel is chaired by Professor Neva Haites, of the University of Aberdeen. The other members are Professor Peter Braude, of King’s College London, Professor Keith Campbell, of the University of Nottingham, Robin Lovell-Badge, of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research, Professor Anneke Lucassen, of the University of Southampton and the Human Genetics Commission, and Professor Sir Richard Gardner, of the University of Oxford and the Royal Society.
About one in 200 children are born each year with genetic mutations in their mitochondria. They cause severe and incurable disease in about one in 6,500 people.
The research is funded by the Wellcome Trust, the Medical Research Council, and the Muscular Dystrophy Campaign.
Advertisement
The HFEA said in a statement: “The amended Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 allows for regulations to be passed that will allow techniques, which alter the mitochondrial DNA of an egg or embryo, to be used in assisted conception to prevent the transmission of serious mitochondrial disease.
“In introducing this provision into the Act in 2008, the Government gave assurance that the power to make these regulations would be considered only once it was clear that the scientific procedures involved were effective and safe.”