MPs are currently debating changing the law to allow mitochondrial donations. This is a very complex area that few people understand, and that raises strong emotions on both sides, from those who say this will prevent 150 children a year suffering from life-threatening illnesses to those who predict it will put the UK on course to be the first country that allows ‘designer babies’ and certainly allows ‘three-parent babies’.
You might therefore expect that MPs might want to spend a fair bit of time debating the legislation and discussing the ethical implications of it. But the Commons has been given just 90 minutes for this issue. At the start of the session, Tory MP David Burrowes (who opposes the change) made a point of order asking why the debate was so short when similar regulations had been given a debate lasting over three hours.
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