Italians Warn Britain Against 3-Parent Baby Law
Saturday, 21 Feb 2015 10:25 PM
By Andrea Billups
Several Italian politicians are warning Britain's House of Lords against approval of a law that would allow mitochondrial donation, a controversial genetic technique that allows the conception of babies via DNA from three parents, the U.K.'s Express reported.
In a letter they penned to media, they warned that the technique using DNA from three people "could have uncontrollable and unforeseeable consequences, affecting future generations and modifying genetic heritage in an irreversible way, inevitably affecting the human species as a whole."
Lawmakers in Britain's House of Commons voted earlier this month to approve the controversial in vitro fertilization technique, which "could prevent mitochondrial disease," CNN reported.
The House of Lords must approve it before it can become law, CNN added.
If passed, it would make the U.K. the first nation in the world to allow embryo creation using DNA from three people.
The Italians, in their letter, warned the procedure was unsafe, adding that "the greater part of the scientific community maintain that the scientific data currently available is insufficient to even consider intervention on human subjects, and there cannot therefore be any guarantee for the safety of any eventual off-spring," the Express said.
Mitochondrial donation, or three-parent in-vitro fertilization, "is a form of IVF that could prevent severe genetic diseases being passed from mother to offspring," noted Medical News Today.
While some see benefits for the procedure to help with mitochondrial diseases like Lou Gehrig's Disease and muscular dystrophy, others view it as the outer limits of genetic engineering, Medical News said.
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