This morning Minister for Health Greg Hunt surprised more than a few people by opening a conversation on human germline modification. 

He declared that within an hour he would be introducing a bill to parliament to permit mitochondrial donation which could then be used to create what the tabloids love to call “three-parent babies”.

Mitochondrial donation is actually about preventing children being born with severe mitochondrial disease, which is associated with multiple organ failure and premature death.

With mitochondrial replacement, the woman with the faulty mitochondria and a donor both provide eggs.