THE first three-parent babies could be born in the UK this year after doctors were given the go-ahead to start performing controversial new IVF therapy.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has granted a licence to a team at the University of Newcastle, who have pioneered the new treatment.

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HFEA chair Sally Cheshire announced the development in her opening speech at the authoritys annual conference this morning.

She said: This significant decision represents the culmination of many years of hard work by researchers, clinical experts, and regulators, who collectively paved the way for Parliament to change the law in 2015, to permit the use of such techniques.

Patients will now be able to apply individually to the HFEA to undergo mitochondrial donation treatment at Newcastle, which will be life-changing for them, as they seek to avoid passing on serious genetic diseases to future generations.

The treatment has the potential to allow couples who carry, and therefore risk passing on, deadly genetic diseases to conceive healthy babies.

Though it is dubbed a three-parent treatment,babies born as a result of the therapy would only inherit personality traits, those that affect appearance and other features that make a person unique, from theirmum and dad not the donor.

The move comes after the HFEA gave the therapy, called mitochondrial donation, the green light in December last year.

Speaking after that historical decision, MrsCheshire said: This is life-changing for those families.

But critics have warned it marks the first step towards so-called designer babies.

The NHS is now poised to spend 8million offering the IVF to 25 couples.

The licence is the first stage of the process, and gives the Newcastle clinic the green light to perform the procedure.

The second stage requires each patient application to be individually approved by the HFEA, they confirmed.

Earlier this year the first baby to be born using the technique was welcomed into the world by his parents in Mexico.

The baby boy was born in April after his parents, who are from Jordan, were treated by a team of American specialists in the country.

Scientists at the University of Newcastle, which has been at the forefront of pioneering the treatment, have already lined up women to have the therapy, known as mitochondrial replacement therapy.

The team hopes to treat up to 25women a year with NHS funding.

Prof Sir Doug Turnbull, who has led the team at Newcastle in developing the new IVF therapy, said he is delighted for patients.

This will allow women with mitochondria DNA mutations the opportunity for more reproductive choice, he said.

Mitochondria diseases can be devastating for families affected and this is a momentous day for patients who have tirelessly campaigned for this decision.

He said in December, his team will aim to treat up to 25 carefully selected patients each year, and would offer follow-up care for any children born.

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Fertility experts across the UK also welcomed the development.

Professor Adam Balen, chair of the British Fertility Society, said the granting of a licence to the Newcastle centre marks a historical step towards eradicating genetic diseases.

The decision is the latest step in a 10-year process from the first proof of concept studies.

Dr Jeremy Farrar, director of the Wellcome Trust, who funds the centre for mitochondrial research at Newcastle said: Affected couples in the UK who have dreamt of having a baby free of mitochondrial disease will have an option open to them for the first time, he said.

Now we must give the first patients and their doctors the time and space to discuss the next steps with the patience, sensitivity and scientific rigour that they have displayed throughout.

Fertility clinics in the UK will not automatically be given the right to offer the treatment.

Rather, each clinic will have to apply to the HFEA for permission to do so.

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Prof Balen said given their pivotal role in developing the treatment the Centre for Life at Newcastle University is likely to be the only centre approved to offer the therapy.

The pioneering therapy aims to prevent potentially fatal diseases being passed from parents to their offspring.

Babies receivingmitochondrial replacement therapy would receive a tiny amount of DNA from a third person besides their mother and father.

Fertility specialists carrying out the treatment will aim to replace abnormal genes in themitochondria small structures that are found in every human cell.

Mitochondria are small structures found in our cells. They generate energy that is used to power every part of our body. Mitochondria have their own DNA, which only controls mitochondrial function and energy production, according to the Wellcome Trust. This is completely separate from our nuclear DNA, which is what makes us who we are, governing our appearance and personality. Mitochondrial disease can be fatal, affecting multiple organs. It includes diabetes, heart problems, epilepsy and stroke-like incidents, and in serious cases death. Mitochondrial DNA disease is passed from mother to baby. The new mitochondrial donation technique, uses DNA from the mitochondria of a healthy donor, the nucleus of a mothers egg and a fathers sperm to create an embryo. The technique allows for those women who carry potentially fatal genetic mutations to have healthy babies. As the nuclear DNA is not altered, mitochondrial donation will not affect a childs appearance or personality or any other features that make a person unique. It simply allows for a child to be free of mitochondrial disease.

Source: The Wellcome Trust

To do so involves taking the DNA from themothers egg that bears thefaulty genes, and transferring it into a donor egg, with healthy mitochondria.

Because the nucleus from the mothers egg is used the technique does not affect the babys appearance, personality, or other traits that make a person unique.

It simply allows the mitochondria which only controls a cells energy production to function normally, allowing a child to be born free of mitochondrial disease, which can prove fatal.

Mitochondria only hold around 0.1per cent of a persons DNA, which is always inherited from the mother and has no influence over individual characteristics.

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But faulty mitochondrial DNA can lead to a wide range of potentially fatal conditions affecting vital organs, muscles, vision, growth and mental ability.

In theory, mitochondrial replacement can not only prevent a child developing inherited diseases, but also protect future generations.

Last year, the UK became the first country in the world to legalise mitochondrial replacement after MPs and peers voted in favour of allowing it.

Critics say the technique is not fool-proof and small numbers of faulty mitochondria may still be carried over into the child.

They also argue that unforeseen problems might occur once the procedure is used to create human babies.

For instance, replacing the DNA might have more of an impact on personal traits than has been envisaged.

Dr David King, from the watchdog group Human Genetics Alert, said the HFEA had approved experiments on babies using the technology that was dangerous and medically unnecessary.

He accused experts backing the treatments of shameless emotional blackmail and scientific misrepresentations.

Dr King added: This decision opens the door to the world of GM (genetically modified) designer babies.

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First 'three-parent babies' could be born in UK this year as docs secure licence to perform controversial IVF - The Sun