Question
asked Her Majesty's Government:Further to the Written Answer by Lord Darzi of Denham on 19 March (WA 44), whether outgrowing embryos lie outside the remit of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority if they have ceased to be human embryos; and why every embryo in British laboratories that has been cultured for more than 14 days lacks any relationship between the trophectoderm and the inner cell mass.
Answer
Once an embryo ceases to be a live human embryo it falls outside the regulatory remit of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority. It is the intrinsic nature of cell masses which have outgrown from the structure of an embryo to lack a relationship between the trophectoderm and the inner cell mass.