Article content

Canada should lift its criminal prohibition against the creation of so-called “three-parent babies,” genetic ethicists and fertility experts say.

The controversial technique, which involves swapping a certain type of DNA between two women’s eggs, is a “novel, promising intervention” that allows women to avoid passing on sometimes fatal inherited diseases to their children and shouldn’t be outlawed because of “misplaced apprehension” over tinkering with the human genome, according to a commentary published in the most recent issue of the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Canada.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Canada should OK 'three-parent babies': Commentary argues for lifting of ban on controversial technique Back to video

It is a crime in Canada to knowingly create embryos that have DNA from more than two people.

The authors argue the 13-year-old law is outdated, formed at the height of fears around cloning and that Canadians “have the right to benefit from scientific advances” under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. They’re calling for a national discussion to revisit the prohibitions.