§ Rev. Martin SmythTo ask the Secretary of State for Health if he will make a statement on the current arrangements for disposing of embryos. [99265]
§ Yvette CooperSection 17 of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Act 1990 provides that the person responsible in a licensed clinic must ensure that proper arrangements are made for the disposal of gametes or embryos that have been allowed to perish.
In its Code of Practice the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority provides that, where an embryo is no longer to be kept for treatment the centre should decide how it is allowed to perish and what is to happen to the perished material. The authority requires the procedure to be sensitively devised and described, and that it should be communicated to the people for whom the embryo was being stored if they so wish.