The British government continues to move toward legalizing a form of inheritable genetic modification that would combine eggs or embryos from two women in an effort to prevent the transmission of mitochondrial disease.
But the controversy over the technique, variously known as “3-person IVF,” “mitochondrial replacement,” and “nuclear genome transfer,” is far from over, and the issues received a public airing in the House of Commons on September 1.
This was not the official government-initiated debate — that remains some way off — but one brought by a group of MPs who urged the government “to delay bringing forward regulations on mitochondrial replacement” until more research had been completed. (The British system combines the executive and legislative powers but also allows some time for debates requested by members of parliament who do not hold party or government office.) The complete transcript is available, as is archived video.
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Opinion in the House of Commons was clearly divided. About half of those who spoke favored moving forward with the technology, some for rather crass reasons (“this is a great piece of British scientific advance”), some out of understandable concern for individual constituents who suffer from mitochondrial diseases. The debate also stirred some local newspapers to feature patients criticizing MPs for “standing in the way of a pioneering new treatment” or wanting to “help future generations.”
Read the full, original story: “3-Person IVF” debated in UK Parliament
