Last Updated Feb 3, 2015 12:10 PM EST Britain could soon become the first country to allow a controversial technique to create babies from the DNA of three people. Lawmakers in Parliament's House of Commons voted Tuesday to permit embryos to be genetically modified -- a move that could prevent children from inheriting potentially fatal diseases. The bill must next be approved by the House of Lords before becoming law. The in-vitro fertilization technique involves altering a human egg or embryo before transferring it into the mother. Until now, British law had forbidden any such modification. So-called "three-parent IVF" is not approved in the United States, although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating its safety. The British government published rules in December on how the techniques should be used. The U.K.'s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Sally Davies, said they should be legalized "to give women who carry severe mitochondrial disease the opportunity to have children without passing on devastating genetic disorders." Defects in the mitochondria can result in diseases including muscular dystrophy, heart, kidney and liver failure and severe muscle weakness. Critics, however, say the techniques cross a fundamental scientific boundary, since the changes made to the embryos … Continue reading →