Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Lord Marland on 5 December 2012 (WA 158–9), why the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority used the term “mitochondria replacement” instead of “pronuclear transfer” or “spindle transfer”; what was the prior evidence to suggest that a lay audience would better understand “mitochondria replacement” than “nuclear DNA replacement”; and whether in effect it is the mitochondria that are actually replaced rather than the nuclear DNA of embryos as defined in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act.[HL4556]
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) has advised that, as outlined in the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Lord Marland’s answer of 5 December 2012 (Official Report, col. WA 158-9), the aim in using such terminology was to enable a lay audience to understand the essential purpose of these techniques, which is to replace unhealthy mitochondria.
Descriptions of maternal spindle transfer and pro-nuclear transfer can be found on the HFEA’s consultation website at: http://mitochondria.hfea.gov.uk/mitochondria/ what-is-mitochondrial-disease/new-techniques-to-prevent-mitochondrial-disease/.