It was gathered
that despite the technique being designed to eliminate disease, it has however
been used as an unproven fertility booster in Ukraine as it was stated that the
idea of a three person-baby IVF was devised to prevent the repeated heartache
of losing children to illnesses caused by defective mitochondria.
The advanced form
of IVF was developed at Newcastle University in the UK and the final safety
checks were completed in June. So the Mexico birth and the procedure being
offered as a fertility treatment has caused concern.
"We appear to
be in a race to the bottom," warned Dr Marcy Darnovsky from the US Centre
for Genetics and Society.
Criticising
doctors offering the technique, she added: "They are ignoring ongoing
policy debates and conducting dangerous and socially fraught experiments on
mothers and children. And they appear to be actively seeking a media splash on
the way down."
"Use of these
biologically extreme procedures for infertility is based purely on
speculation."
It is argued that
some cases of infertility are caused by a "poor" environment inside
the egg such as insufficient or old mitochondria or an imbalance in the
chemicals necessary to trigger embryo development. And that the three-person
technique could overcome those deficiencies.
Dr Dusko Ilic,
from King's College London, said there was no way to stop IVF clinics offering
the procedure.
While the UK was
the first country to create laws to legalise three person IVF, it is legal by
default in many countries with little-to-no regulation.
Dr Ilic told the
BBC News website: "IVF clinics are jumping on the bandwagon and rushing
ahead, whereas the Newcastle team did all the hard due diligence work.
"The major
worry is how technically skillful these clinics are, what quality control
measures are in place and what information they provide to desperate patients
seeking help.
"Are those
patients aware of all risks involved?" For example in the
Mexico birth - the details of the family and an photograph of the baby were
made public without any consent.
James Lawford Davies, a partner at
the law firm Hempsons, said: "One example of the way UK regulation
protects patients is through the confidentiality which attaches to their
identity, the details of their treatment, and their children.
"Any
such disclosure would be a criminal offence in the UK."
When
the UK allowed the procedure to prevent inherited mitochondrial disease, it did
not allow three-person IVF to be used in fertility treatment.
"There
was little evidence at the time the law was being changed that the methods were
likely to help infertility," said Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, from the Francis
Crick Institute.
Such
an untried form of conception was thought to be too risky - except in the case
of mitochondrial disease where the harms were even greater.
Prof
Lovell-Badge said the UK had a reputation for looking "deeply into the
issues of science and safety" and that such procedures may be permitted in
the future if they were shown to be safe.
He
told the BBC: "We can't control this in countries where there are few or
no regulations and poor oversight.
"Unfortunately
the clinics in such countries have become used to being unregulated, and it is
the patients who are at risk of being duped into paying for methods that have
little or no benefit or that are even harmful."
Sarah
Norcross, the director of the Progress Educational Trust, said fertility
clinics had a reputation for "rushing" new techniques to patients.
She
advised: "For British women who wish to avoid passing mitochondrial
disease to their children, the temptation to travel overseas to access these
treatments must be enormous.
"We
would caution against this. At present, there are too many unanswered questions
about what has been achieved - and how - for us to be confident of patient
safety.'
