Plans for three-parent IVF babies a step closer after fertility watchdog gives the go-ahead Fertility watchdog today advised the Government on how to move forward The possibility of creating IVF babies from three parents moved a step closer today after the UK fertility watchdog paved the way for the Government to legalise the practice. But today the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) advised the Government on how to move forward on the issue. Today, in advice to ministers, the HFEA set out safeguards for controversial mitochondrial replacement techniques that could affect future generations. But watchdog did not explicitly argue for a change of the law that would allow children to be conceived with the help of DNA donated by a second 'mother'. Instead, it was left to ministers to decide whether they should ask Parliament to consent to the procedures. Experts believe mitochondrial replacement could lead to the eradication of a host of serious inherited diseases. However, a consultation exercise conducted by the HFEA has shown that members of the public broadly support for the treatments to prevent disease. Professor Lisa Jardine, chair of the HFEA, said: 'The Government has asked us to take the public temperature on this important and emotive issue and that is what we've done. 'We've found that there is broad support for permitting mitochondria replacement, to give families at risk of mitochondrial disease the chance of having a healthy child. Although some people have concerns about the safety of these techniques, we found that they trust the scientific experts and the regulator to know when it is appropriate to make them available to patients. But Dr David King, director of the pressure group Human Genetics Alert, said: 'These techniques go far beyond anything existing in both invasiveness to the embryo and complexity so it's not surprising that they pose serious health risks to the child, risks that the HFEA refuses to properly address. In truth, the real forces driving this research are scientific careerism and the ideology which insists that high-tech is always best, and that no consequences can be allowed to stand in the way of the forward march of science. A Department of Health spokesperson said: "Mitochondrial disease, such as muscular dystrophy, can have a devastating impact on the people who inherit it. People who have it live with debilitating illness, and women who are affected face passing it on to their children. Scientists undertaking research have developed new procedures which could stop these diseases being passed on. But such procedures would not be allowed in treatment under current law, so we asked the HFEA to consult the public as to whether we should change the law. Once we have received the detailed advice from the HFEA over the next few weeks, we and BIS will carefully consider it and respond in due course. Professor Doug Turnbull, director of the Wellcome Trust Centre for Mitochondrial Research at Newcastle University, said: "Mitochondrial DNA disease runs in families and there is no cure. The techniques we are working on here in Newcastle, could help hundreds of women have healthy children.