Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Public Health, Jane Ellison, on 8 January 2014 (HC Deb, col 267–8W), what sort of abnormalities might be anticipated in offspring conceived via pronuclear transfer or spindle-chromosomal complex transfer that would need to be assessed in follow-up studies; what sample size for either embryos transferred or neonates would need to be evaluated before deciding that too many abnormalities were observed; how the general public would be informed of the number of abortions that might take place under statutory ground E of the Abortion Act 1967 specifically following attempts at either pronuclear transfer or spindle-chromosomal complex transfer; and how many abnormalities would need to be seen before the programme was stopped.
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that the 2011, 2013, and 2014 reports: Scientific review of the safety and efficacy of methods to avoid mitochondrial disease through assisted conception have not found evidence that use of pronuclear transfer (PNT) or maternal spindle transfer (MST) results in abnormalities.
However, the HFEA would expect that the health of all babies born following PNT and MST would be assessed at birth and in long term follow-up studies and that these assessments would identify any abnormalities where they are present.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology (Mitochondrial Donation) Regulations 2015 will not come into force until 29 October 2015. The HFEA will announce its proposals for the regulation, monitoring and reporting of mitochondrial donation treatment cycles in due course.