The United Kingdom has recently approved the use of “three-parent embryo” techniques as a potential treatment for mitochondrial disease. These techniques involve considerable risks for the children produced, and also raise serious ethical concerns. The scientific evidence for when human life begins will be briefly reviewed, and the proposed “three-parent embryo” techniques will be considered in light of this evidence. The fact that two of the proposed techniques constitute destructive, eugenic, reproductive human cloning will be discussed.