Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Part of Living Wage (Reporting) – in the House of Commons at 3:28 pm on 3 February 2015.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Jane Ellison Jane Ellison The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health 3:28, 3 February 2015

I will try to touch on some of the points raised in this high-quality debate, in which views have been expressed on all sides of the argument. I will deal first with the technical questions. I really cannot add to the excellent explanation that Liz McInnes gave of the Zhang et al study from China. She was precisely right and explained it very well.

In answer to an earlier question, we are satisfied that regulations are necessary and that they are not ultra vires. The clinical trials directive is not relevant in this context. It is part of a suite of EU measures that set out common rules across Europe to ensure the free movement of safe medicines in the EU. Mitochondrial donation is not a medicine, so those provisions do not apply. The follow-up assessment of the treatment’s efficacy is part of good clinical practice.