New Three-Parent Baby Law ‘is Flawed and Open to Challenge’, says Senior Lawyer
By Steve Connor,
The Independent [UK]
| 01. 14. 2015
Untitled Document
The Government’s attempt to legalise so-called “three parent” babies is open to challenge by judicial review because of serious flaws in the proposed legislation, a senior lawyer has warned.
Legislation to allow mitochondrial donation is either unnecessary or invalid under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, according to international law expert Lord Brennan QC.
The written opinion, which has been passed to parliamentary authorities, says there are “significant doubts” about the legality of proposed regulations being introduced by the Department of Health.
Lord Brennan states: “If the regulations are approved in their current form, they may be open to challenge by way of judicial review.”
The Government has introduced new regulations to allow mitochondrial donation – where genetic material of two women’s eggs is merged with a man’s sperm, to ensure women with mitochondrial defects do not pass on mutations to their children – because it was thought that the controversial IVF technique was specifically banned under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008.
The Act defines a “permitted” egg or embryo as one whose “nuclear or mitochondrial...
Related Articles
By Tomoko Otake, The Japan Times | 04.09.2024
A decade ago, researcher Haruko Obokata caused a sensation when she published two papers in the journal Nature, in which she claimed that she had discovered a way to create stem cells easily using the so-called STAP method.
With STAP...
By Yelena Biberman and Jonathan D. Moreno, Bioethics Forum | 04.16.2024
A quiet biological revolution in warfare is underway. The genome is emerging as a new domain of conflict. The level of destruction that only nuclear weapons could previously achieve is fast becoming as accessible as a cyberattack.
Now for the...
By Eric Schmidt, TIME | 04.16.2024
Imagine a world where everything from plastics to concrete is produced from biomass. Personalized cell and gene therapies prevent pandemics and treat previously incurable genetic diseases. Meat is lab-grown; enhanced nutrient grains are climate-resistant. This is what the future could...
CGS is excited to announce the launch of a new anti-eugenics initiative that has been years in the making. Legacies of Eugenics in Science, Medicine, and Technology kicks off with a monthly essay series published at the Los Angeles Review of Books that will expose and contest the reemergence of eugenic ideas in contemporary health sciences, human biotechnology, public health, and medicine. Community and campus-based events featuring the authors are also being planned. The project is a collaboration among CGS...