§ Jim DobbinTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) what plans he has to prevent the sale of female eggs for fertility experiments; [143174]
(2) what his policy is on pharmaceutical companies offering financial inducements to women to donate eggs for use in fertility experiments; and if he will make a statement. [143445]
§ Miss Melanie JohnsonInfertility research involving the use of human eggs requires a licence from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) if those eggs are mature and are placed in storage at the research centre and/or are to be fertilised with human sperm to create a zygote or embryo. Women donating eggs to such projects can be paid a maximum of £15.00 per donation plus expenses.
The sale of human material that is not regulated by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, including immature eggs, will be made a criminal offence by the Human Tissue Bill, which was introduced on 3 December 2003.
All research projects involving the use of human gametes, including those that do not require a licence from the HFEA, must have the approval of the research centre's local research ethics committee before the project can go ahead.