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 Parliament will vote on the technique, called mitochondrial
donation, which would be a medical world first for Britain but is
fiercely disputed by some religious groups and other critics.
The treatment is known as "three-parent" in vitro fertilization (IVF)
because the babies -- born from genetically modified embryos --
would have genes from a mother, a father and from a female donor.
It is designed to help families with mitochondrial diseases,
incurable conditions passed down the maternal line that affect
around one in 6,500 children worldwide.
The process involves intervening in the fertilization process to
remove mitochondria, which act as tiny energy-generating batteries
inside cells, and which, if faulty, can cause inherited conditions
such as fatal heart problems, liver failure, brain disorders,
blindness and muscular dystrophy.
International charities and advocacy groups urged Britain to pass
laws to allow the treatments, saying Tuesday's vote offers a "first
glimmer of hope" of having a baby that can live without suffering.
In an open letter to lawmakers, the U.S.-based United Mitochondrial
Disease Foundation, the Australian Mitochondrial Disease Foundation,
as well as other groups from France, Germany, Britain and Spain,
described mitochondrial disease as "unimaginably cruel".
"It strips our children of the skills they have learned, inflicts
pain that cannot be managed and tires their organs one by one until
their little bodies cannot go on any more," they wrote.
Critics say the technique will lead to the creation of genetically
modified "designer babies".
Members of parliament have been given a free vote on the proposed
new laws after their debate later on Tuesday.
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Lawmaker Jacob Rees-Mogg said he would vote against.
"At the moment there is a very clear boundary that babies cannot be
genetically altered, and once you've decided that they can, even for
a small number of genes, you have done something very profound and
then it's merely a matter of degree as to what you do next," he told
BBC radio.
David King, director of a pro-choice campaign group, Human Genetics
Alert, urged others to follow Rees-Mogg's example.
This was "about protecting children from the severe health risks of
these unnecessary techniques and protecting everyone from the
eugenic designer baby future that will follow from this," he said.
(Additional reporting by Kate Holton; Editing by Janet Lawrence)
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