Mitochondrial Replacement (Public Safety)

Chi Onwurah Excerpts

Monday 1st September 2014 Commons Chamber

[Chi Onwurah (Newcastle upon Tyne Central) (Lab)]

I am proud that in Newcastle upon Tyne Central, my constituency, Newcastle university has pioneered research into variations on IVF treatments and procedures that can prevent the transmission of the genetic mutations that cause those devastating disorders. We also have victims of that devastating disease in Newcastle, such as Lily Cass, who is in her 70s. Some days she can hardly move due to a lack of energy caused by her faulty mitochondria. It takes all her strength away. She has four children, including a daughter, who is likely to pass the disease on to her children. She worries about that all the time. For those women and their families, the most important help we can offer are those potential treatments.

I want to focus on the so-called three parents issue. The embryo would carry just 13 out of 23,000, or 0.056%, of the genetic material from the mitochondrial donor. As the right hon. Member for Havant (Mr Willetts) said, it is not the nuclear DNA, so the child’s appearance, personality and other features are not affected. In Britain, the egg donation and surrogacy principle, whereby more than two parents can contribute biologically to the birth of a child, is already recognised. Medical procedures that introduce a donor’s biological material are also long accepted. The headlines, such as the BBC’s recent “Mum plus dad plus mum”, are not only sloppy and sensational, but unscientific. I would like the BBC’s other programme, “More or Less”, to comment on whether giving 0.056% of genetic material and 0% of nuclear DNA really constitutes being called “mum”.

The UK is carrying out pioneering research on mitochondrial diseases. This country has the opportunity to be at the leading edge of the world in preventing such terrible diseases. It has taken us years to get to this point. Never before has a technique had such rigorous investigation, and ethical and scientific analysis. It is therefore incredibly important that progress does not stall.