HFEA Statement on Tissues and Embryos Bill
17 May 2007
Shirley Harrison, Chair of the HFEA, said:
"We welcome the Draft Tissues and Embryos Bill as a step forward towards a new clear framework for fertility regulation fit for the challenges of the 21st Century.
"Though the framework established by the work of the Warnock Committee has stood the test of time admirably, there are a number of areas where the pace of scientific and social development has gone far beyond what was envisaged in the 1980s.
"The HFEA has contributed extensively to the thinking behind this Draft Bill to ensure the lessons learned from the last 16 years of fertility regulation in the UK can be built in to any new legislation. The Authority will now consider all the proposals in the Bill in detail to assess them in the light of this experience.
"We will look forward to further contributing our experience to the MPs and Peers scrutinising the Bill and will follow it closely through the forthcoming parliamentary process."
Ends
Notes to editors
The HFEA is the independent regulator for IVF treatment and embryo research. Our role is to protect patients and the public interest, to drive improvement in the treatment and research sectors and to provide information to the public and policymakers about treatment and research.
The HFEA was set up in August 1991 as part of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. The HFEA's principal tasks are to license and monitor clinics that carry out in vitro fertilisation (IVF), donor insemination (DI) and human embryo research. The HFEA also regulates the storage of gametes (eggs and sperm) and embryos.
For further information please contact the HFEA press office.
Page last updated: 11 March 2009