The House of Commons has approved the "Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015". If (as it should be) confirmed in the Lords, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) will have permission to license clinics to perform one of two procedures to help women have healthy babies. The earliest would likely be November this year so the first babies would be born in the latter half of 2016.
The particular problem that the procedures will address is "mitochondrial disease". Mitochondria are the "power units" within each cell of the body which convert food into energy. Faulty ones can cause a whole range of debilitating and life shortening problems including brain damage and physical disability. They are only inherited from the mother as they are separate from the cell nucleus that contains the DNA that codes for all the characteristics of the individual. That is unaffected and the person resulting from the procedure would only have about 0.045% of their DNA from the "third parent".
There are two different techniques involved. Both involve a donated egg from a woman with healthy mitochondria which has had its nucleus removed. That is replaced with either the nucleus from the "recipient" mother's egg or a nucleus from one of her eggs fertilized by in vitro methods. The recipient mother carries the fetus to term in the normal way following in vitro fertilization.
HEFA will be licensing both the clinics and in the initial stages each procedure. If the procedure were to be available in the USA, the effects would be significant:
Every 30 minutes, a child is born who will develop a mitochondrial disease by age 10. Each year, 1,000 to 4,000 children in the United states are born with a mitochondrial disease. While exact numbers of children and adults suffering from mitochondrial disease are hard to determine because so many people who suffer from mitochondrial disease are frequently misdiagnosed, we now know the disease is approaching the frequency of childhood cancers. Many are misdiagnosed with atypical cerebral palsy, various seizure disorders, childhood diseases and diseases of aging. Still others aren't diagnosed until after death
Sadly this development will not affect those already born. It will give an alternative to women whose current only chance of having a healthy child is by complete egg donation. The child of course is not genetically related to them, the important plus for these new techniques.
Note: as Health is a devolved matter, the same regulations need not apply to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, hence the title of this diary.
"Regulations" are "Statutory Instruments" laid before Parliament from approval and modify the arrangements under existing laws where new primary legislation is not needed. Often they implement primary legislation which includes a provision to modify other Regulations. An example is the "Same Sex Marriage" Act which required a lot of changes to things like the regulations around licensing and less obviously the social security and pension arrangements.
A big difference between the USA and UK is that the regulations are run through independent regulatory bodies like HEFA rather than the legislature giving approval directly.