House of Lords passes three-parent embryo regulations

The House of Lords has passed regulations to allow the creation of three-parent embryos. Peers rejected a motion against the regulations by 280 votes to 48. The regulations will now become law, making the UK the first country to allow the technique. The controversial procedure is aimed at preventing incurable diseases being passed from mother to child. But Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, said: "Legislators have been consistently misled in the past about the prospects of success and the future intentions of those who want to use the tiniest humans - human embryos - for experiments."

Speaking on Vatican Radio John Sherrington, Auxiliary Bishop of Westminster said he was “very disappointed” but “not that surprised” by the parliament vote, because it follows a general trend of legalising human embryo experimentation that began in Britain many decades ago.

He pointed out that no other country has allowed this three person baby procedure and many medical experts in other nations have serious reservations about it. “There are many international scientists who are very critical, both of this vote and of this procedure.”

Asked for his assessment about the longer-term implications of this procedure, Bishop Sherrington said it means that we’re moving into “very risky territory” and he’s also worried from the “perspective of public safety.”

On the ethical side, he pointed out that approving this procedure further emphasises “a very utilitarian view about the human embryo."