Fiona Bruce – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Department of Health
The below Parliamentary question was asked by Fiona Bruce on 2016-05-23.
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, with reference to the article by Marta N. Shahbazi et al, entitled Self-organisation of the human embryo in the absence of material tissues, Nature Cell Biology (2016) and by Alessia Deglincerti et al, entitled Self-organisation of the in vitro attached human embryo, Nature 553, 251 to 254, of 12 May 2016, if he will instruct the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority to require prolonged culture for up to 13 days or longer of any human embryos generated by (a) pronuclear transfer and (b) spindle-chromosomal complex transfer prior to clinical application of either of these techniques.
Jane Ellison
It will be for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, as the United Kingdom national regulatory body, to determine what evidence must be provided by clinics seeking a licence to provide mitochondrial donation treatment to patients, and any conditions that are to be placed on the licence.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, as amended, prohibits the keeping or using of embryos for longer than 14 days or the appearance of the primitive streak, whichever is the earlier.
