HL Deb 12 December 2001 vol 629 cc212-3WA
Lord Alton of Liverpool

asked Her Majesty's Government:

How, under the terms of the Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001, they intend to police clinics and laboratories using cloned human embryos; how they intend to enable inspectors to distinguish between human embryos created by in vitro fertilization and those cloned by cell nuclear replacement; and what penalties will be imposed upon those who violate the law. [HL1932]

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

Under the Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001, the penalty imposed on a person who places in a woman a human embryo which has been created otherwise than by fertilisation is imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years or a fine or both. If a suspected crime under the Act is reported to the police, they will investigate it in the usual way. An embryo created by fertilisation is subject to the full regulation of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990.