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Scientists can protect children from being born with certain devastating genetic disorders by creating "three-parent" babies, according to the results of a landmark study released Wednesday.
British researchers used the experimental technique to help families have eight children who appear healthy. They now range in age from younger than 6 months to older than 2 years.
The families have been plagued for generations by rare but often fatal inherited mitochondrial disorders, according to two papers published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
The four boys and four girls, including a set of identical twins, need to be followed longer to confirm the procedure is safe and effective, the researchers say. But the results are being hailed as a milestone in the quest to harness cutting-edge genetic technologies to enable more women to have healthy babies.
"Mitochondrial disease can be devastating for the family. It can be tragic," says Doug Turnbull, a professor of neurology who is part of the team at Newcastle University that has been developing the technique for more than a decade. "This is...