MPs attack 'designer babies' decision condemned

Britain's fertility watchdog overstepped its powers by allowing an IVF clinic to try to create a "designer baby", an influential committee of MPs said yesterday.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) was criticised for allowing doctors to try to select an embryo capable of donating bone marrow to a critically ill sibling.

A report by the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee said the HFEA "went beyond the scope of its own consultation" when it allowed the clinic to go ahead. It said the public should have been fully consulted on any "decision of such ethical importance." The damning report criticised evidence given by Dame Ruth Deech, former chairwoman of the HFEA, and accused the authority of acting undemocratically and taking decisions which should be the preserve of MPs.

The HFEA was unavailable for comment last night. But Dr Ian Gibson, Labour MP for Norwich North who chairs the select committee, said that it was important that Parliament should be given a say in controls on the controversial scientific area.