Britain is set to become the first country to legalize conceiving children using the DNA from three different people or three parents. This very controversial move has sparked heated opinions among activists and religious groups.

British Members of the Parliament will today cast a crucial vote that will decide if the creation of in vitro fertilization (IVF) babies from three people -- the mother, father and a female donor --will be made legal in the United Kingdom.

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This special method is focused on preventing deadly genetic diseases passed from the mother to the baby. It could help some 150 couples every year.

Naturally, this move has sparked serious ethical debate among senior figures of the Church of England who strongly oppose this procedure and ask it be banned.

A single "yes" vote from the House of Commons can allow the first three-parent baby to be born as early as next year. The British government apparently supports the measure in principle. All MPs, however, are given a free vote as opposed to being forced to agree along party lines.

The MPs will vote mainly on mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) donation techniques aimed at the prevention of serious and even deadly inherited diseases. In this procedure, the normal nuclear DNA from the mother and father will also contain a small amount of healthy mDNA from another woman donor.

mDNA is transmitted when it is passed through the mother. Hereditary mitochondrial diseases strike major body organs and can cause symptoms ranging from poor eyesight to early diabetes and even muscle wastage.

Medical experts believe mDNA donation techniques could potentially help some 2,500 women in the U.K. who are at risk of developing and passing on harmful DNA and mDNA mutations.

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