Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answers by Lord Darzi of Denham on 21 November (WA 78) and 18 December 2007 (WA 115), whether they will specify the relevant provisions of legislation in which all experiments that lack a compelling scientific rationale would already be prohibited.
Answer
Schedule 2, paragraph 3(2) of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, requires that the creation of embryos for research may not be licensed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority unless it is necessary or desirable for the purposes set out in that paragraph, or the purposes set out in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001. Schedule 2, paragraph 3(6) states that no licence under this paragraph [research licences] shall be granted unless the authority is satisfied that any proposed use of embryos is necessary for the purposes of the research. The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority therefore cannot permit the use of embryos in research unless the scientific rationale is one of the purposes as decided by Parliament, and the authority believes the use of embryos is necessary for that purpose.