UK doctors plan country's first three-person fertilization procedure
UK officials have approved two women for mitochondrial replacement therapy , the fertilization procedure that results in a baby technically parented by three people, the Guardian reports. The procedure, which still isn't approved in the US , was legalized in the UK in 2015 and the Newcastle Fertility Centre, where the two women will be treated, was granted a license to perform the procedure last March. While it's not the first time a procedure like this has been done, it is the first time it will happen in the UK. The two women reportedly carry genes that cause a condition called MERRF syndrome -- a rare disorder affecting the muscles and nervous system that can result in recurrent seizures, movement issues and dementia. The genes that cause the syndrome are transferred to offspring through a mother's mitochondrial DNA, and that's where mitochondrial replacement therapy comes in. To remove the risk of MERRF, doctors use the father's sperm to fertilize an egg fr...