Question
To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the Written Answer by Earl Howe on 5 December 2012 (WA 158–9), what assessment they have made of the practicality of somatic cell nuclear transfer being used for correcting mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) mutations and rescuing the metabolic function of pluripotent cells from existing patients with inherited mtDNA diseases; and whether any such assessment was conveyed by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority in its consultation “Medical Frontiers: debating mitochondria replacement” so as to enable a lay audience to understand the relevant techniques.[HL378]
Answer
The Government have not made any assessment of the use of somatic cell nuclear transfer for the correction of mitochondrial DNA mutations. Such procedures would differ from the techniques, on which the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) recently consulted, for use in treatment in the United Kingdom, which would involve the replacement of all the mitochondria in an affected egg or embryo.
Similarly, the HFEA has advised that it has not carried out any such assessment, nor was it asked to do so as part of its consultation “Medical Frontiers: debating mitochondria replacement”.