Reports say six more British couples are planning to create designer babies.

　　The Observer says they all have seriously ill children whose only chance of survival is the birth of a sibling who is a perfect genetic match.

　　The news comes after the Human Fertilization and Embryology Authority told a Leeds couple they can use IVF to create a sibling whose cells could cure their child.

　　None of the six couples has found matching donors for their children, meaning the only hope is to have another child who is a genetic match, The Observer reports.

　　The six are registered with the Park Hospital Centre for Assisted Reproduction in Nottingham which is also treating Shahana and Raj Hashmi at the centre of the controversy.

　　Their son Zain has the rare blood disease beta thalassaemia major.

　　Simon Fishel, director of the Park Hospital clinic, says the door has now been opened for other parents.

　　"It was an ethical precedent, and the authority has for the first time set the strict criteria by which other cases will be considered," he said. "We have half a dozen other patients who are keen to go forward. I would be very surprised if I haven''t put in another application within three months."