The hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) set out her case clearly and I respect her beliefs, but I do not agree with her conclusions. If we took them to the logical point, we would ban any intervention that introduces some part of one person to another. It would mean boycotting blood and organ transfers, simply because—[Interruption.] I listened with courtesy to the hon. Lady and I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) will listen to me with courtesy. When these pioneering techniques started, nobody knew the answers for certain. People made judgments—scientific judgments—on the best available evidence, and it turned out that people’s fears were ill-founded.
The trials that have been undertaken on this work have led the scientific community—a powerful group of scientists with an extraordinary degree of knowledge in this area—to conclude that the risks are small but worth taking because the benefits on the other side of the equation are enormous. In all cases where there are risks, we need to consider the risks as against the benefits. I put it to the House that there are potential benefits for the about 2,500 families affected by mitochondrial disease up and down this nation, and they deserve our support. Of course we have to assess the risks, as we do with all risks, but that has to be done in a rational and balanced way.