Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath on 18 June (WA 9), how removal of any nuclei or pronuclei from an embryo would not have significantly altered the genetic structure of that embryo due to the removal of all nuclear genes, bearing in mind that altering the structure was considered by the appeal committee for the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority research licence R0153 to involve alteration to the genes or the genome and the resulting heritable characteristics; and
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) is an independent statutory body with the responsibility of licensing human embryo research under the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The decision to licence research project R0153 was taken by the HFEA appeals committee. A summary of how this specific decision was made is available on their website at www.hfea.gov.uk. The definitions in the draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill apply in the context of that Bill only and are therefore not applicable to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 and the decision taken by the HFEA appeals committee when it was considering the licence application R0153. If the draft Human Tissue and Embryos Bill were enacted as it is, provisions in the Bill would allow for the research project R0153 to be licensed by the regulatory authority.