Doctors discuss birth of 3-parent baby

NEW YORK (FOX 5 NEWS) - A controversial fertility technique has produced the first baby with three biological parents. Fox 5 spoke with the doctors who helped bring this special child into the world.

Dr. John Zhang says he started his research 20 years ago. He led the fertility procedure, which took place in Mexico, to create a three-parent baby. That baby was born about 5 months ago in New York.

Zhang worked with Dr. Alejandro Chavez. Together they replaced the birth mom's DNA, which had mutated mitochondria, with a healthy donor's nuclear DNA. This way, the doctors expected the baby to be born without any potentially deadly genetic diseases. 

But there is a lot of controversy surrounding this IVF procedure. Dr. Tomer Singer, director of reproductive endocrinology at Lenox Hill, says it is too soon to call this birth a "miracle."

"We don't know that this kid is not going to be affected," Dr. Singer said. "We're going to have to wait several years before we can actually tell if this child is going to be healthy."

Dr. Singer acknowledges that this procedure is a medical achievement, but wants to stress that it's not FDA-approved and is banned in the United States. In his opinion we need many more years of research in a controlled environment before this procedure becomes more widespread.