Creation of '3-parent babies' raises ethical concerns in the UK

'In the creation of a three-parent baby, two other embryos are destroyed'

The news that eight babies with the DNA of three people have been born in the U.K. has been greeted by some as a great step in the fight against genetic diseases, but others are concerned about the ethical implications, which involve the destruction of two living embryos to create a third.

The eight babies were born in the last five years and were created as part of an attempt to spare them from mitochondrial disease. The disease affects around 1 in 5,000 babies in Britain and can cause developmental, metabolic and neurological disorders.

Only women with a high risk of passing on the disease to their children were eligible to undergo the process of creating a triple DNA baby. In all, 22 women underwent the procedure, but only seven became pregnant, with one having twins, representing a success rate of 36%.

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