Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Jacob Rees-Mogg Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Liz McInnes]

I did not say it was just like changing a battery. In fact, I try to avoid using that terminology. The hon. Lady mentions learning disabilities, but as I just said, the organs affected the most by mitochondrial disorders are organs that require a large amount of energy, such as the brain, so that comes as no surprise to me.

Allegations have been made that the techniques are not safe.

[Jacob Rees-Mogg (North East Somerset) (Con)]

Will the hon. Lady give way?

[Liz McInnes]

No, I will not, because I need to make progress and let other people speak.

Last night, it was my privilege to attend the debate on the safety and ethics of this technique and to hear Professor Doug Turnbull, who leads the research team at Newcastle university, talk about the 15 years of work done by his team and the extensive safety checks that have taken place during those years. In the Chinese case to which my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) referred, the treatment was carried out by an American clinician on a single patient in China. The patient became pregnant with triplets, one of whom was aborted and the other two were born prematurely and died. Importantly, the clinician attributed the outcome entirely to multiple pregnancy and obstetric complications, not to the method of conception. I do not accept that that one case represents a proper clinical trial.

What we have to remember is that mitochondrial disease is a life-limiting debilitating disease, causing severe distress to parents and their affected children. We have here a technique with the ability to alleviate their suffering and to allow affected parents the chance to have a healthy child who is genetically related to them in all aspects apart from a tiny proportion of mitochondrial DNA. The spectre of designer babies can be dismissed. There is no possibility of using this technique to select certain characteristics. It will simply allow mitochondria to function normally and for the child to be free of mitochondrial disease.