Members of the European Parliament are warning that Britain is breaching EU law by allowing the creation of “three-parent babies”.
Fifty MEPs have written to David Cameron, asking him to withdraw the legislation, which they said had “violated human dignity”
The new law, passed by a majority of UK MPs, would allow the controversial technique of mitochondrial donation – which would allow babies to be conceived with genetic material from three individuals.
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The first baby conceived using this method may be born as early as next year
The Independent reports: Peers were today due to vote on the historic legislation, which would see the UK become the first country in the world to allow the creation of IVF babies using DNA from three different people.
MPs, including all three main party leaders, voted earlier this month in the Commons to legalise the procedures, which are aimed at preventing serious inherited mitochondrial diseases.
The chief medical officer for England has now urged the House of Lords to approve the amendment to the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.
The group of 50 MEPs, including Slovakian MEP Miroslav Mikolask, have written an open letter warning Mr Cameron the new laws breach the EU’s Clinical Trials Directive, The Telegraph has reported.
In the letter, Mr Mikolask and the 49 other MEPS write: “Your proposals violate the fundamental standards of human dignity and integrity of the person. Modification of the genome is unethical and cannot be permitted.
“These proposals put the UK out in front of a race to the bottom so far as standards of human dignity are concerned.”
The European Commission has also been asked to take action to stop the technique from being allowed.
The move comes as 55 Italian MPs also urged the House of Lords to reject the law in a letter to The Times, saying the procedure “could have uncontrollable and unforeseeable consequences, affecting future generations, and modifying genetic heritage in an irreversible way, inevitably affecting the human species as a whole”.
Elsewhere, opponents including church leaders and pro-life groups have warned the change has been brought about too hastily and marked the start of a “slippery slope” towards designer babies and eugenics.
Niamh Harris
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