New rules proposed in Britain would make it the first country to allow embryos to be made from the DNA of three people in order to prevent mothers from passing on potentially fatal genetic diseases to their babies.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the department of health said it had taken "extensive advice" on the safety and efficacy of the proposed techniques from the scientific community.
The methods used to modify embryos would involve using DNA from two women and one man.
Experts say this procedure would likely only be used in about a dozen British women every year to prevent them from passing on degenerative diseases to their children.
Currently, U.K. law forbids any genetic modification of embryos before being transferred into a woman.
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