Speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival, Lord Winston warned that the procedure opens the door to eugenics, particularly in countries like North Korea.

You could easily see how this kind of thing could be used in North Korea for example.

I dont think its very likely it will be used in the UK in a mischievous way but Ive no doubt that given the burgeoning market, given the desperation of people who want to enhance their children in all sorts of ways, humans might be tempted to use this and that therefore it does become a form of eugenics.

Every piece of science has an upside and a downside. There comes a point where you have to publish what youve been doing.

Im not trying to make an exaggerated claim for what we have done at all but I think the reproductive technologies are being misused in my view.

This is far more likely to be a serious threat than cloning. Cloning seems a useless technology. You can choose the attributes you might want to try and produce. If you can make a mouse run faster, which we can, if you can make a mouse bigger, which we can then maybe people might want to try the same thing in humans.

Neither Carole nor I when we started this experiment were particularly thinking about the misuse of the work. We knew if you could improve somebodys genetics somebody might try and do it. I just think that this just brings it a bit closer, in quite a substantial way really.

Meddling with nature is in this context risky.

However most fertility experts think it is unlikely the technology will ever be so advanced that humans could create designer babies.

Previously Dr Allan Pacey, chairman for the British Fertility Society has said he doubts that we will ever have the skill to alter complex traits such as intelligence, beauty of musical ability.

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Robert Winston: my research could open door to 'risky' eugenics