§ Mr. AmessTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what is his policy on the use of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 to permit the creation of embryos by cell nuclear transfer. [138669]
§ Yvette Cooper[holding answer 16 November 2000]: Research involving the creation of an embryo by cell nuclear transfer is not prohibited by the 1990 Act provided it is for one of the current specified research purposes.
Counsel's advice to the Government is that the 1990 Act includes the use of embryos created by cell nuclear replacement, which means that embryos created in this way are subject to regulation by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.
We announced in our response (Command 4833) to the Donaldson Committee Report "Stem Cell Research: Medical Progress with Responsibility" (June 2000) our intention to bring forward legislation, when the parliamentary timetable allows, to set out unequivocally the ban on reproductive cloning by the cell nuclear replacement technique.