This isn’t about three-parent babies. It’s about saving families needless misery | Polly Toynbee

The religious lobby is urging MPs to vote against mitochondrial replacement – yet the public wants it

MPs have a free vote today on whether to allow mitochondrial replacement – a procedure aimed at preventing children being born with incurable genetic diseases. It raises all the old passions about anything involving embryos – and new worries about interfering with genes. Without warning, the Church of England has thrown a noisy spanner in the works, unexpectedly urging MPs to vote against.

Mitochondrial disease is a glitch in the genes that act as batteries, powering the body’s cells. Faulty mitochondria, carried by some 2,500 mothers, can cause catastrophic organ failure in their children, severe epilepsy or conditions such as muscular dystrophy. Children often die in an agony that can’t be alleviated. Some parents have lost several children; I met one couple who have seen six die.

Inevitably it has led to warnings of ‘genetically modified humans’, ‘GM babies’ and even ‘designer babies’

In 1,000 face to face interviews in 175 locations, the HFEA committee sought views in every way we could

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Parents and parenting | The Guardian

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