In A few weeks, the UK is set to decide whether to become the first country to allow the creation of "three-parent babies". The government's scientific advisers are urging a yes vote, but the debate will be bitter and divisive. Opponents argue that the technology is not ready. It now seems they may be right -albeit for the wrong reasons. The debate concerns a technique called mitochondrial replacement. Designed to prevent diseases caused by mutations in the mitochondria - the cell's power packs - it uses donor mitochondria to replace the mother's faulty ones. Hence the "three-parent" tag: mitochondria have their own genome, so the child ends up with genes from three people.
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