An informative interview with Prof Stuart Newman, Professor of Cell Biology and Anatomy at New York Medical College, on the ethical concerns regarding “three-parent IVF”

Prof. Newman isn’t the only scientist to caution against three-parent IVF.

Prior to this month’s vote in the House of Commons, Dr Paul Knoepfler, a stem cell researcher and associate professor at the University of California, Davis, went so far as to warn that the UK would be making an “historical mistake” if it allowed the unproven and under-tested technology to move forward in humans.

“Even if hypothetically this technology might help avoid some people from having mitochondrial disorders (and that’s a big if),” Knoepfler writes, “the bottom line is that there is an equal or arguably greater chance that it will tragically produce very ill or deceased babies.”

Dr Trevor Stammers, Programme Director in Bioethics and Medical Law at St Mary’s University, also said: “Even if these babies are born they will have to be monitored all their lives, and their children will have to be as well.

“We do not yet know the interaction between the mitochondria and nuclear DNA. To say that it is the same as changing a battery is facile. It’s an extremely complex thing.”

Sign the petition. This radical experimentation on children must not be allowed to move forward!