Topics: babies, dna, ivf

THE possibility that babies could be born with the DNA of three different people is a step closer, after a consultation showed that most Britons would be happy to see the law changed to allow a radical form of gene therapy.

The IVF therapy would help women in danger of passing on mitochondrial disease to their babies - a potentially fatal metabolic disorder.

An exhaustive survey of public attitudes to the replacement of an affected mother's mitochondria - the tiny "power packs" of cells - with those from an egg donor has found widespread support for the technique.

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"We've found that there is broad support for permitting mitochondria replacement to give families at risk of mitochondrial disease the chance of having a healthy child," said Professor Lisa Jardine, the chair of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA).

"Although some people have concerns about the safety of these techniques, we found that they trust the experts and the regulator to know when it is appropriate to make them available."

But David King, director of Human Genetics Alert, criticised the HFEA for ignoring the potential risks associated with the technique, which has had only limited testing on laboratory animals and is not medically practised anywhere in the world.

"These techniques go far beyond anything existing in both invasiveness to the embryo and complexity, so it's not surprising they pose serious health risks to the child - risks that the HFEA refuses properly to address," Dr King said.

Mitochondrial replacement involves fusing the egg-cell nucleus of the affected mother with an egg cell from an unaffected donor.

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Public supports gene therapy on IVF embryos