Three Parent children?

by Colin Dexter

In 2008 Parliament passed a law that that gave Government the power to introduce regulations allowing three parent embryos. The Government made an assurance that regulations would only be considered once it was clear that the scientific procedures were safe.

The Government asked the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) to assess the safety and effectiveness of the procedure. The HFEA concluded that evidence did not indicate that the techniques are unsafe although it accepted that there was little evidence. This would appear to be an extremely inconclusive  statement.

Prof. Stuart  A Newman, a world-renowned expert in this field, has described the proposals as ‘inherently unsafe’

We do not know the long-term consequences and the HFEA has stated that children should be monitored for a long time after birth.  This sounds like experimentation with a child’s life!!

The world health organisation has stated   “germ-cell therapy, where there is an intention or possibility of altering the genes passed on to the next generation, should not be permitted in the foreseeable future.”   The Council of Europe’s Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine explicitly prohibits these measures.

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