'Three parent embryos' created from human eggs A separate team from Newcastle University has already successfully demonstrated a similar technique, where the mother's DNA is transferred after the egg is fertilised and not before. Their method, which is still being fine-tuned, has a much lower risk of defective embryos but may raise fewer ethical concerns because the DNA transfer happens before the egg has been fertilised, experts said. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority is currently consulting on a change in the law which would allow the creation of IVF babies using either technique. The Oregon researchers reported that tests of their technique on rhesus monkeys had shown it could create healthy offspring, but added that there were fewer issues with the quality of embryos than in humans. Prof Robin Lovell-Badge, of the MRC National Institute for Medical Research, said: "In the current study, about half the manipulated eggs failed to fertilise properly, and consequently these gave abnormal embryos. While these are clearly recognisable, and could be discarded, this substantially lowers the efficiency of the procedure ... it is therefore conceivable that the other proposed method, where the nuclear genetic material is transferred after fertilisation, will be more robust.