§ Earl Howeasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the use of human diploid cells originating from human aborted foetal tissue as a medium for vaccines is subject to donor consent: how much such tissue is used in this way each year; and what commercial arrangements exist between the National Health Service and pharmaceutical companies to facilitate its availability for this use. [HL2100]
§ Baroness AndrewsThe human diploid cell line (called M RC-5) used in the production of some vaccines (rubella, rabies, hepatitis A and some polio vaccines) was derived from one sample of foetal lung tissue obtained following a termination of a pregnancy for medical reasons in 1966. No further foetal tissue has been obtained. There is no commercial arrangement between the National Health Service and pharmaceutical companies to facilitate the availability of this cell line. The National Institute for Biological Standards and Control maintains a limited stock of the MRC-5 cell line and over the past 20 years has distributed small samples of this stock free of charge to pharmaceutical companies for the production of vaccines. The companies have then used these as "seeds" to develop their own stocks of MRC-5 cells for full-scale vaccine production.