14 DAY TRIAL // High officials and legislators in the United Kingdom are looking into the possibility of allowing scientists to create babies that have three genetic parents.
Otherwise put, researchers in this country might soon be given the green light to engineer babies whose DNA comes not from two, but from three parents.
The specialists who support the project say that this controversial in vitro fertilization (IVF) technique allows them to create babies that are safe from various diseases.
However, skeptics argue that the technique could one day be used to roll out so-called designer babies, and should therefore be banned.
Live Science explains that, in order to create a baby sporting DNA from three parents, researchers need only replace defective mitochondrial DNA with a healthy sample that has previously been collected from a female donor.
This female donor is the third parent.