Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answers by Lord Marland on 19 November (WA 311–2) and 5 December 2012 (WA 158–9), by what methods they assess any increase in the mutation load of particular tissues due to differential segregation and the effects of pronuclear transfer on tissues with different energetic requirements or numbers of mitochondria; whether it is necessary or desirable to confirm that mitochondrial function is normal and to measure the proportion of abnormal mitochondria in various cell types after carrying out pronuclear transfer in embryos with abnormal mitochondria; and whether any such assessment should be made by producing stem cell lines from the reconstructed embryos or by induced pluripotent stem cells.[HL4558]
Answer
This is a technical scientific research question.
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) agreed, in February 2011, to a request from the Secretary of State for Health to scope “expert views on the effectiveness and safety of mitochondrial transfer”. The authority established a small panel, with broad-ranging expertise, to collate and summarise scientific evidence submitted from a wide range of experts in the field. The HFEA submitted a report of the panel’s findings to the Department of Health on 18 April 2011. This report can be found on the authority’s website at: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/6896.html. As part of this report the panel considered background information on mitochondrial biology and disease.