Department of Health the door would be opened to
controversial treatments for inherited diseases that use
donated DNA from a second donor mother.
It is envisaged
that between five and 10 three-parent babies would be
born in Britain each year.
The aim of the IVF treatments is to stamp out serious
Mitochondrial Diseases which can be passed from a
mother to her children.
Mitochondria replacement involves transferring nuclear
genetic material from a mother's egg or embryo into a
donor egg or embryo that has had its nuclear DNA
removed.
This would allow a woman carrying Mitochondrial
Diseases to have healthy children.
Around one in 200 babies are born each year in the UK
with defects in the mitochondria, rod-like bodies that
supply cells with energy.
One in 6,500 is seriously affected and can suffer
potentially life-threatening diseases including a form of
muscular dystrophy.
Chief Medical Officer Professor Dame Sally Davies said:
"Mitochondrial Disease, including heart disease, liver
disease, loss of muscle co-ordination and other serious
conditions like muscular dystrophy, can have a
devastating impact on the people who inherit it.
"People who have it live with debilitating illness, and
women who are affected face passing it on to their
children. It's only right that we look to introduce this
life-saving treatment as soon as we can."
The Department of Health announced that the
government intends to publish draft regulations later
this year in a public consultation about the IVF-based
techniques to eradicate Mitochondrial Diseases.
The new regulations to fertility law allowing the
procedures will be issued for consultation and then
debated in Parliament.
Should MPs find the regulations ethically acceptable, the
first patients could be treated within months.
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