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GWEN IFILL: Now to questions surrounding a significant advance in reproductive technology with DNA and embryos.

The change on the horizon was pioneered and approved in England and it is now being considered for use in the U.S. Proponents believe it may eliminate dangerous disease in children, but others have raised ethical concerns.

Today, the National Academy of Sciences recommended that clinical trials go forward in the U.S.

William Brangham has our look.

WILLIAM BRANGHAM: This new technology is called mitochondrial replacement technique, or MRT for shot.

Mitochondria are tiny structures that exist in nearly all the cells in our bodies, and have their own unique DNA. The problem is, a very small number of women have defective mitochondria, and if they have children, those kids inherit their mom’s mitochondria and can suffer terrible, sometimes fatal, problems, including brain damage and heart failure.

This new technology would, in essence, replace that original mitochondria in either the mother’s egg or in the parents’ embryo with healthy mitochondria from a third person. A child born this way would...