Lords give green light to three-parent babies

THE UNITED Kingdom has become the world’s first country to legalise the creation of three-parent embryos, after the House of Lords voted down an attempt to delay the controversial legislation by a majority of 232.

The vote in the upper house to amend the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act – to permit mitochondrial DNA from a second woman to be used during IVF – follows the amendment being passed by MPs last month with 382 in favour and 128 against.

The procedure, designed to enable women who are carriers of mitochondrial diseases to conceive without passing them on to their children, has been criticised by church leaders. Peers on Tuesday night rejected by 280 votes to 48 a proposal to block the bill to amend the current law from the Catholic Conservative former Cabinet minister Lord Deben, following several hours of debate.

He said he was not making an ethical argument but sought a delay to explore safety issues, telling the Lords: “I am very concerned about this. In the end, if it all goes wrong, it will be no use for us to say, ‘I took the opposite view’… So far, the Government has not convinced the public of the sense of this.”