Britain has officially granted a license to an in-vitro fertilization (IVF) program designed to conceive a fetus using the DNA of three parents. By doing so, the country has become the first in the world to legalize such a treatment program.

The formalization of the radical treatment has come under a lot of criticisms, Reuters reported. Critics feel the treatment is giving way to a dangerous trend of "designer babies" that have been genetically modified.

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The treatment is referred to as mitochondrial transfer (MRT). After a long debate in the United Kingdom over the treatment, the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority (HFEA) in Britain has given hopeful participants the green light.

Doctors, who support the treatment, claim that parents with incurable and inheritable diseases can prevent their defective genes from being passed on.The decision by the HFEA is a "momentous and historic step," Adam Balen, chairman of the British Fertility Society, told The Guardian.

The decision comes two years after the United Kingdom parliament voted to legalize the procedure. Doctors in Newcastle can reportedly now offer the experimental treatment to women whose DNA is at risk of passing on genetic diseases to their children.

The treatment was developed to help women with mutations in their mitochondrial DNA to have healthy children. The mitochondria in human cells provide energy for the body's tissues. When newborns are affected with mitochondrial diseases, many children die young as the mutations cause the baby's heart, brain, and muscles to fail.

Experts say fertility clinics in Britain are preparing to apply for a license and treatment could start as early as early as spring 2017.

"We're delighted. This is a huge triumph for the research, for the regulatory process in the UK, and most importantly for all the families who are affected. We have everything ready to go," Prof. Mary Herbert of the Newcastle Fertility Centre said.

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