HC Deb 07 June 1988 vol 134 cc555-8W
Mr. Amos

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will establish an inquiry into the implications for medical ethics of the operations performed on 3 March and 7 April at the midland centre for neurosurgery and neurology which involved the transplant of live tissues from aborted foetuses;

(2) if he will make it his policy to prevent the use of National Health Service facilities for the performing of operations involving the transplant of live tissue from aborted foetuses;

(3) what information he has as to whether the mothers of the aborted foetuses used as donors of live tissues in operations performed on 3 March or 7 April at the midland centre for neurosurgery and neurology were in any way related or connected with the recipients of the transplanted cells;

(4) what information he has to whether the mothers of the aborted foetuses used as donors of live tissues in operations performed on 3 March or 7 April at the midland centre for neurosurgery and neurology received any payment in connection with the procedures.

Mr. Nicholas Bennett

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) what special administrative procedures were adopted prior to the operations performed at the midland centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology on 3 March and 7 April which involved the transplanting of foetal cells to the brains of adult patients suffering from Parkinson's disease;

(2) if consent was obtained from (a) those patients receiving transplanted foetal cells, (b) the mothers of the aborted or stillborn foetuses from whom the transplanted cells were taken, (c) the local ethical committees and (d) his Department prior to the operations performed on 3 March and 7 April at the midland centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology which involved the transplanting of foetal cells to the brains of adult patients suffering from Parkinson's disease;

(3) if he will publish in the Official Report the guidelines issued by his Department on the use of transplant operations of live cells taken from aborted or stillborn foetuses;

(4) if the parents of the aborted or stillborn foetuses used as donors during operations performed at the midland centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology on 3 March and 7 April in the treatment of Parkinson's disease were told the precise use to which the foetal material would be put;

(5) how many of the foetuses from which live cells were taken for operations at the midland centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology on 3 March and 7 April in the treatment of Parkinson's disease were (a) aborted or (b) stillborn; and in the case of (a) what was the number of weeks of gestation;

(6) under which statutory grounds the foetuses involved as donors of living cells for transplant operations at the midland centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology on 3 March and 7 April were aborted.

Mr. McLoughlin

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will make it his policy to incorporate into the forthcoming Bill on human embryo experimentation a clause protecting aborted foetuses from being used as donors of live tissue in transplant operations;

(2) whether his Department is aware of any evidence that the use of live cells from aborted babies in transplant operations is of long-term benefit to sufferers from Parkinson's disease; and if he will make a statement;

(3) if he will make it his policy to introduce a moratorium on the use of aborted foetuses as donors of live cells in transplant operations until such time as the House can legislate on this matter;

(4) if he will list the names and occupations of the members of the local ethical committee which gave permission for the use of live cells from aborted foetuses to be used in transplant operations at the midland centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology on 3 March and 7 April; and if he will publish in the Official Report the details of the application which they were asked to consider and the form in which such an application was made;

(5) if he will call for a report from the chairmen of the relevant regional and district health authorities as to the circumstances in which operations involving the transplant of live tissue from aborted babies were performed on 3 March and 7 April at the midland centre for Neurosurgery and Neurology.

Mr. Thurnham

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services if he will review the status and responsibilities of hospital ethical committees; if he will monitor use of foetal material; and if he will make a statement.

Sir Bernard Braine

To ask the Secretary of State for Social Services what guidelines have been issued by his Department with regard to the ethical implications involved in the use of human foetal brain cells in the treatment of Parkinson's disease; what is the source of supply of such material; how that supply is organised; what the required age of gestation of the foetus involved; what is the method of abortion used; what pain is caused to the foetus in the operation; if an anaesthetic is used separately on the foetus; what steps are taken to obtain the mother's consent in each case; whether any payment is involved and to whom; what information he has as to whether there is any connection between the doctors involved in these abortions with those requesting the foetal material; and if he will make a statement.

Mr. Newton

The Department's current guidance is that any research involving a foetus or fetal material should be subject to approval by the local ethical committee, and that such committees should base their consideration on the code of practice set out in the report on the advisory group on the use of foetuses and fetal material for research (known as the Peel report, published in 1972). The code's provisions include that there should be no known objection on the part of the parent; that no payment should be made for the material; and that responsibility for deciding whether the material may be used for research should not rest with those conducting the research.

Local ethical committees, which are also the subject of separate guidance, are advisory bodies to safeguard patients' interest and to advise health authorities on the ethics of clinical research investigations. Information on ethical research committee membership is not held centrally.

In the two cases to which the questions refer, the fetal material used was obtained from a nursing home approved under the 1967 Abortion Act, under arrangements approved by the Secretary of State for that nursing home to supply fetal material to the Birmingham university medical centre for a number of research projects. It is a condition of the Secretary of State's approval that the provisions of the code of practice recommended by the advisory group on the use of foetuses and fetal material for research are adhered to. All women whose foetuses may be used to provide material which may be passed to the medical centre are invited to sign a declaration to the effect that they have no special wishes concerning the disposal of material arising from their pregnancy. Material provided to the medical centre is provided anonymously. Information about patients and the circumstances of their abortions cannot be released for reasons of confidentiality, but I am assured that the women concerned received no payment in connection with the procedures, nor were they known to be in any way related to or connected with the recipients of the transplanted cells.

I understand from inquiries made of the appropriate health authorities that the transplant operations were conducted with the consent of the patients who received the transplants and the consent of the local ethical committee, which I understand considered the issues involved with great care and over a long period of time.

A third operation involving the transplantation of fetal brain tissue to a patient suffering from Parkinson's disease has now been performed at the midland centre for neurosurgery and neurology. This also was done in accordance with the Peel code of practice and existing clinical guidance.

In view of the continued advance of medical techniques since the Peel report was published, my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Social Services, together with my right hon. and learned Friend the Secretary of State for Scotland and my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Wales, has decided to set up a committee with the following terms of reference: In the light of recent developments in the field of human tissue transplantation, and other relevant medical research, to review the Report of the Advisory Group on the Use of Fetuses and Fetal Material for Research (the "Peel Report"), and in particular to consider whether any modifications or additions should be made to the Recommended Code of Practice in that Report.

The committee will be chaired by the Rev. Dr. J. Polkinghorne FRS, Dean of Trinity hall, Cambridge arid its membership will comprise Sir Raymond Hoffenberg, president of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Professor Ian Kennedy, Professor of medical law arid ethics, Kings College, London and Dr. Sally McIntyre, director MRC sociology unit, University of Glasgow.

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