Britain set for historic vote on 'three-parent' babies

Britain could become the first country in the world to allow the creation of babies with DNA from three parents on Tuesday in a move that has divided Britons and pitted campaigners against religious leaders.

Lawmakers in Parliament are set to vote on mitochondrial DNA, or mDNA, donation techniques for in vitro fertilization, or IVF, aimed at preventing serious inherited diseases being passed on from mother to son.

Under the proposed change to the laws on IVF, as well as receiving the usual "nuclear" DNA from its mother and father, the embryo would also include a small amount of healthy mDNA from a woman donor.