It was only a matter of time before the first baby was born with DNA from three parents.
Abrahim's birth will raise the hopes of any family affected by devastating diseases of mitochondria, the powerhouses found in every cell.
The boy's mum was affected by a disease called Leigh syndrome, a neurological disorder that had already killed two of her babies. It is caused by a defective gene in the mitochondria.
But by taking the nucleus - the yolk, in effect - from her egg and transferring it into the egg from a donor containing just the 'white', which includes the mitochondria, the scientists were able to produce a healthy baby.
It's a technique that has been carefully developed by UK scientists in Newcastle. It has taken them several years, largely because they have had to get permission from the embryology regulator every step of the way.
It has yet to be used clinically in Britain and any doctor hoping to use the technique would have to get special permission and then abide by tight controls.
But there are no such safeguards in Mexico, which makes many scientists uneasy.
In fact the team decamped from their base in New York to work over the border precisely because the technique is illegal in the US.
In this case the doctors only used the technique to create male embryos.
That prevents the genetic changes being passed on because mitochondria and the genes they contain always come from the mother.
So in Abrahim's case there won't be indelible genetic changes being passed down a family line.
But there are also concerns whether he will be monitored as he grows up.
In the UK doctors would have to regularly check there are no unexpected consequences from tampering with the egg - and they would proceed cautiously before rolling out the technique.
But that doesn't detract from the medical breakthrough.
It does, however, highlight the different standards of regulation that exist around the world.
Unscrupulous medical teams could in future take advantage of desperate families - and that should make us all uneasy.
credit: http://news.sky.com/story/three-parent-baby-breakthrough-sparks-concerns-10596134
