What is 'early pronuclear transfer'?
It involves parents' chromosomes being taken from the mother's fertilised egg and implanted into the fertilised egg of a healthy donor which has had its own chromosomes withdrawn.
Christian Concern says 'early pronuclear transfer' represents a step towards three-parent designer babies, however, researchers at Newcastle University suggest it offers hope in stopping babies being born with serious genetic conditions.
The campaign group has been reacting to a study published today in the journal Nature which has concluded the IVF-based technique "is likely to lead to normal pregnancies and reduce the risk that babies born will have mitochondrial disease".
In a study involving more than 500 eggs from 64 donor women, scientists found: "the new procedure does not adversely affect human development and will greatly reduce the level of faulty mitochondria in the embryo."
Speaking to Premier Christian Radio, Andrea Williams from Christian Concern said: "The idea that these scientists actually want to play around with human life - which could have potentially massive ramifications for anyone that might be born, and for generations to come - is an extremely dangerous thing to do."
"We know - as Christians - that we will find cures for terrible [conditions] when we use science ethically. If we do that, I believe ...that would be amazing."
Professor Mary Herbert (pictured above with Doug Turnball), senior author of the study at Newcastle University, said: "Having overcome significant technical and biological challenges, we are optimistic that the technique we have developed will offer affected women the possibility of reducing the risk of transmitting mitochondrial DNA disease to their children."
Chrsitian Concern's Andrea Williams said: "We have set out on a dangerous path, on which 'designer babies' and even eugenics could prove to be much closer than we pretend."
Professor Doug Turnbull, Director of the Centre for Mitochondrial Research, and co-author of the paper said: "This study using normal human eggs is a major advance in our work towards preventing transmission of mitochondrial DNA disease.
"The key message is that we have found no evidence the technique is unsafe. Embryos created by this technique have all the characteristics to lead to a pregnancy."
"Our studies on stem cells does express a cautionary note that it might not be 100% efficient in preventing transmission, but for many women who carry these mutations the risk is far less than conceiving naturally."
Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) said 'early pronuclear transfer' still raises "serious ethical and safety concerns".
Peter Saunders, Chief Executive of CMF, said: "The Newcastle researchers admit that one of five stem cell lines derived from embryos they created actually showed an increase, rather than a decrease, in the percentage of mitochondrial DNA carryover."
Peter Saunders went on to say: "Adoption of children, babies or embryos still remains a viable and safe alternative for these families and DNA editing, which has already been successfully used to prevent transmission of mitochondrial disease in mice, is a far more precise, specific, clever, natural and ethical solution to this problem than stripping nuclei out of embryos and transplanting them into donor eggs.
"We should put a halt to [this procedure] and instead pursue scientific solutions that are more safe, natural, ethical and scientifically precise - more Michelangelo than Picasso."
The Expert Scientific Panel at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority will now consider the study's result before deciding whether to allow couples affected by mitochondrial disease to have the choice of whether to use pronuclear transfer to try and have healthy children.
You can listen to Andrea Williams from Christian Concern speaking with Premier's Alex Williams by clicking here.