Three Parents Technique: UK Approves Technique to Make a Baby From Two Women & One Man

The United Kingdoms fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryo Authority, has agreed to carry out a treatment that will make it possible for babies to be made from two women and a man. This is following a decision made in December to have the technique used.

This is technique is set to be tested by a clinic at Newcastle University.

It is known as Mitochondrial (an organelle in the cytoplasm of cells that functions in energy production) donation. This type of fertilization technique involves replacing a faulty mitochondria inherited from one mother with the healthy mitochondria of another woman as a way of preventing mitochondrial disease from being passed on to a child. CNN reports that the mitochondrial DNA is inherited only from the mother through her eggs. If the mother’s mitochondrial DNA is faulty, it is very likely that she may pass on a number of rare but serious mitochondrial diseases, including muscle weakness, diabetes, heart problems, epilepsy and stroke-like episodes which may lead to death.