Minister Publishes Proposals For Revised Law On Assisted Reproduction

Main Category: Fertility
Article Date: 18 Dec 2006 - 2:00 PDT

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Public Health Minister Caroline Flint has published the Government's proposals for a major overhaul of the law on assisted human reproduction and embryo research.

The proposals follow an extensive public consultation exercise on the current law, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990, and are contained in a new White Paper.

They include a statutory ban on sex selection for non-medical reasons, explicit rules for embryo screening, and more scope for embryo research. It also contains further details of the proposed new Regulatory Authority for Tissue and Embryos (RATE), which will replace the existing regulators the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the Human Tissue Authority (HTA).

Launching the White Paper, Caroline Flint said:

"The UK is a world leader in reproductive technology and a pioneer in the way it is regulated. But the current law, which has served us well, is in need of revision. Technology has changed and so have attitudes. There are new ways of creating embryos not envisaged when the current Act was drawn up; while new techniques to select the sex of a child and ever-increasing possibilities to screen embryos for diseases are presenting new challenges and dilemmas.

"Many of these issues have profound ethical, legal and social implications, which is why it has been important to seek a wide range of views on all of the proposals. I believe that the proposed changes we are publishing today will ensure that legitimate medical and scientific uses of human reproductive technologies continue to flourish, while giving the public confidence in how they are being used and developed.

"These proposals will form a draft Bill, which will be presented to Parliament next year for pre-legislative scrutiny."

Key proposals in the White Paper include:

• further details on how the new regulator RATE will work
• ensuring that all human embryos outside the body - whatever the process used in their creation - are subject to regulation
• a ban on sex selection for non-medical reasons
• explicit criteria in the law for the screening of embryos for diseases
• increasing the scope of legitimate embryo research activities, subject to strict controls
• retention of the duty to take account of the welfare of the child in providing fertility treatment, but removal of the reference to "the need for a father"

On the "need for a father" reference being removed, Caroline Flint made clear that this did not mean same sex couples would automatically get IVF treatment on the NHS.

She said:

"The changes we are talking about concern what the law allows or doesn't allow - they are not about what the NHS provides. Access to NHS fertility services is based on clinical need. If there is a clinical need for fertility treatment, then the provision of NHS treatment should be considered regardless of the patient's sexual orientation."

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Notes:

1. The White Paper is available on-line at http://www.dh.gov.uk

2. The document includes 25 specific proposals - there is a table towards the end of the document summarising them and listing the current legal position.

3. The detail of the legislative proposals will be fully worked up to comprise a draft Bill. It is proposed that the Bill will be subject to pre-legislative scrutiny, so Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the proposed changes, to gather further evidence as it thinks fit, and to make its views known in advance of the formal law-making process.

4. The decision to create the Regulatory Authority for Tissue and Embryos (RATE) was made by Health Ministers following a review of the Department's arm's length bodies. The establishment of RATE brings the functions of the HTA and HFEA together under one management board. It creates a single regulatory body and sole competent authority under the EU Tissue and Cells and Blood Directives, responsible for the regulation and inspection of all functions relating to the whole range of human tissue, ensuring that common principles and standards are applied across all sectors. Like the HFEA and HTA, RATE will be accountable for its actions to Parliament. It is intended to establish RATE in 2009, but the DH will look for opportunities for joint working between the HTA and HFEA in the run up to the establishment of RATE. The Department's report is available on the http://www.dh.gov.uk website.

5. Related documents, including the Government's response to the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's report Human Reproductive Technologies and the Law can be found here.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act is available online here

For further information please go to:
UK Department of Health

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