Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 11 March (WA 12), whether they will describe how their definition of pronuclei has changed between passage of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act in 1990, amendment of that Act in 2008 and publication of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority’s Scientific review of the safety and efficacy of methods to avoid mitochondrial disease through assisted conception in 2011.[HL6215]
Answer
The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 has included references to pronucleus and pronuclei since the Act was amended by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 2008 but the amended Act does not define these terms. No reference to pronucleus or pronuclei was included in the Act prior to this amendment.
In respect of the use of the term by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the authority has advised that it has nothing further to add to the information provided to the noble Lord in my Written Answer of 11 March (Official Report, col. WAl2).