Heather Bellamy spoke with Robert Clarke from Alliance Defending Freedom

Robert Clarke

Despite widespread concerns from scientists and faith groups, MP's in the UK have voted to legalise the controversial techniques to create three and four parent babies. The UK is now the only country in the world to allow the creation of genetically modified babies and calls are now being made to allow designer babies too. However Alliance Defending Freedom have said that this legislation likely breaches a European Union directive to which the UK is obligated. To discuss this Heather Bellamy spoke with Robert Clarke, who serves as litigation staff counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom at its office in Vienna, Austria.

Heather: What exactly are these techniques?

Robert: These techniques are brand new. They are something that has not been permitted anywhere in the world before now and now the UK Parliament has been asked to vote to allow for the first time in the world, these techniques. There are two techniques, but in short, both of them allow the DNA to be combined from two different parents with the DNA from a third and possibly a fourth or fifth into one embryo. So what you have is children who are born who have the genetic material not from two parents, but from three, or possibly even more than that.

Heather: Are these techniques even ready to be used yet?

Robert: The UK Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, which is the body that would be responsible for regulating this has produced guidance and their own guidance says that if these techniques were to be approved then the children that are born through them are going to have to be monitored for the duration of their lives and even beyond that, the children's' children are going to have to be monitored for the duration of their lives. We are talking about a huge experiment with people's lives that is going to require monitoring for the next, say, 150 to 180 years, into future generations and that's really why it is so dangerous, it is completely untested.

Heather: I believe there have been a number of scientists and people who have been voicing concerns, so why do you think the MP's voted to bring this legislation through?

Robert: It is difficult to say, I mean on the one hand the MP's were given 90 minutes to debate this - this the first in the world and the MP's were given just 90 minutes to debate it. If you watch the debates there are people who speak clearly and persuasively against it, for the reasons I have said and many others too. It just simply wasn't long enough; it wasn't a long enough debate for people to be able to think about the consequences of what they were voting for.

Heather: So what is this European Union Directive that you believe the legislation breaches?

Robert: That is a directive that was passed in 2001. It is called The EU Clinical Trials Directive and on the face of it, it regulates how clinical trials should be handled within the European Union, but Article 9 says and I am just going to quote a few words from it, "No gene therapy trials may be carried out, which result in modifications to the subjects germline genetic identity". All that means is no trials can be approved if the germline - the genetic material is altered in the children. That makes sense because it is so experimental; it's such an unknown thing. That is as clear as night and day in Article 9. Yet the UK parliament has pressed ahead and said they're going to authorise this kind of treatment, which they accept alters the germline; they say it doesn't violate the directive because no clinical trials would be needed, but that's just sidestepping a requirement from Europe for clinical trials for new medicinal products and a clear prohibition that no such trials will be authorised where the germline is altered.

Heather: You provided a legal memo to the European Parliament about it, so what was your Memo saying?

Robert: The Memo comes to the clear conclusion that these regulations from the European Union do apply. They were transposed and they were written into British Law; that exact prohibition was voted on and was passed into British Law. The Memo comes to the clear conclusion that the proposed regulations that the House of Commons voted on violate the directive.

Heather: So what happens now?

Robert: There is the possibility for the European Union to bring infringement proceedings against the UK - that is to take the UK to Court in Europe at the Court of Justice of the European Union, to hold the UK to account and challenge the fact that legislation has been passed that goes against the obligations that the UK signed up to under this directive.

Heather: How can people find out more about this?

Robert: There is a website called 'stop gm three-parent babies'.