David Amess – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health

The below Parliamentary question was asked by David Amess on 2014-06-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, how many human embryos have been (a) created for the purposes of experimentation and (b) created for the purposes of extermination and subsequently destroyed in each year since 1991.

Jane Ellison

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has advised that it does not have a central repository of data on the number of embryos experimented on, nor the number of embryos created for research. However, it does hold data on the number of embryos stored for research, and the total number from 1 August 1991 to 30 June 2012 is 6,149.

Embryos used in a research project must be allowed to perish as it is unlawful to use them in treatment services.