U.K. Churches Oppose 3-Parent Baby Creation Plan, But Some Scientists Claim It Could Save Lives

Churches have urged the U.K. government to stop a plan by scientists to create a baby from three persons to a halt, citing safety and ethical reasons, BBC has reported.

The scientists, however, defended their move in pushing Parliament to approve the proposed change on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 to "enable mitochondrial donation," which the House of Commons is set to debate on Tuesday.

They said their plan would save the lives of thousands of babies as this would prevent them from getting the deadly mitochondrial diseases upon birth.

About one out of every 6,500 babies is born with mitochondrial disease.

The controversial procedure involves the adding of healthy mitochondria from a donor woman to an egg from another woman. The egg with then be fertilized with a man's sperm.

Mitochondria are compartments within the body cells, which are responsible for converting energy from food into energy that the cell can use. They are passed on from a mother to her child.

Forty scientists from 14 countries said the process offered "some affected families the opportunity to have healthy children."

However, according to the Church of England and the Catholic Church in England and Wales, it remains unclear if the process of adding a donor woman's mitochondria to another woman's egg was safe or ethical.

"We need to be absolutely clear that the techniques that will be used will be safe, and we need to be absolutely sure that they will work," said Rev. Brendan McCarthy, Church of England adviser on medical ethics, as quoted by BBC.

He argued that the ethics of the issue should be properly discussed before a decision was made. "What's the rush?" he asked.

Roman Catholic Bishop John Sherrington also expressed his opposition to the procedure. "No other country has allowed this procedure and the international scientific community is not convinced that the procedure is safe and effective," he said.

"There are also serious ethical objections to this procedure, which involves the destruction of human embryos as part of the process," he added.

In a letter to the Guardian, the group of 40 scientists said a positive vote in Parliament "would not only allow affected families to choose to use this new procedure under the care of the globally respected Newcastle team, with proper advice and safeguards. It would also be an international demonstration of how good regulation helps medical science to advance in step with wider society."

They said the U.K. has an "exemplary and internationally admired process" in considering the issue since 2007.

"Mitochondrial diseases are devastating inherited conditions that can lead to serious disability and death," the scientists said in their letter. "The UK hosts a world-class team at Newcastle University developing this technology, which is ideally placed to be among the first to treat patients."

Sharon Bernardi, who lost all her seven children to mitochondrial disease including 21-year-old Edward, said the procedure will help save children's lives.

"This is trying to make children survive," she said. "We're not playing God or anything."

"I would ask them [the Church of England] desperately to please look at the bigger picture and look at the children who have been affected by this dreadful disease," she said. "No child should be born with a disease that's going to cut their life short. I can't believe anybody from the Church would want that."