Question
To ask Her Majesty's Government further to the Written Answer by Baroness Thornton on 9 November (WA 111) and the ensuing letter from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Legal Advisor on 7 December, which professional bodies have consistently described the polar body of an egg as if it was identical to one of the blastomeres from a subsequent embryo; and with what frequency such terms have been used synonymously in academic literature.
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that it would not be accurate to describe the polar body of an oocyte that contains a pronucleus as equivalent to the blastomeres of an embryo that contain nuclei. The HFEA has also advised that it has never identified the polar body of an egg as being identical to the blastomere of an embryo. The content of professional body guidelines is a matter for the professional bodies themselves and not the HFEA.