UK Parliament / Open data

Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill [Lords]

I am in almost 100 per cent. agreement with the right hon. Gentleman. It is possible that there are gaps in the definition. I hope the Minister will accept that that is the case and that it is necessary for ongoing work to be done. The academy has indicated a willingness to continue to do that work so that if, down the line, something that is not covered by these definitions is felt to be useful and therefore needs to be covered by the HFEA legislation in order not to fall completely outside or under animal procedures, amendments can be made to the legislation. That is a mature, sensible approach. If amendment No. 47 closed all potential gaps, I would recommend supporting it. I have already demonstrated that it does not even close its own potential gap because it does not cover diploid complementation, as just one example. The Minister said in an intervention that the specific example that the hon. Member for Enfield, Southgate cited was covered by the Bill, presumably because at the relevant point the entity would not be predominantly animal—the embryo would be human and the animal cells would form the non-embryonic part of the entity. It would therefore fall under subsection (6)(e).
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
481 c370 
Session
2007-08
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
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