§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the reply to the question from the hon. Member for Linlithgow of 2 April,Official Report, column 982, if he will make a statement on the use of the hamster test in the study of chromosomal abnormalities of human spermatozoa.
§ Mrs. Virginia BottomleyTo achieve penetration by a human sperm the hamster egg must first have had its zona pellucida removed by a chemical. The normality of chromosomes derived from the human sperm can be assessed by examining them within the product of fusion of a human sperm and a hamster egg. The test is completed about 24 hours after fusion begins and at that point the1044W material is destroyed. Normally it will not have divided into two cells. Schedule 2 to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill would require that if two cells did appear they must be destroyed.