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05 July 2011

Summary of request

The Authority was asked for the number of embryos used in research (initially created for treatment purposes / specifically created for research purposes) during the last 10, 5, 2 and most recent year which resulted in their destruction.

HFEA response

The request specifies embryos used for research purposes which result in their destruction and it may to give some background information on this that will explain the figures available. The legal requirements around using embryos for research purposes are set out in the HFEA Code of Practice for licensed centers. The Code of Practice is available online and the relevant section is at: http://www.hfea.gov.uk/3468.html . This explains that any embryo created or obtained with the intention of use in research can only then be used for research purposes, for example they cannot subsequently be used in treatment. Also, keeping or using an embryo after the appearance of the primitive streak is not permitted (the primitive streak is to be taken to have appeared in an embryo not later than the end of the period of 14 days beginning with the day on which the process of creating the embryo began, not counting any time during which the embryo is stored).

In April 2010 the HFEA issued General Directions (http://www.hfea.gov.uk/docs/2009-06-03_GENERAL_DIRECTIONS_0002.pdf) requiring Persons Responsible for centres, licensed by the Authority, to carry out research to complete and submit to the Authority a Research Information and Data Sheet, no later than 31 January each year. A summary of submissions received by the HFEA for 2010 is presented below. Prior to 2010 information about the number of embryos used in licensed research was provided by centres prior to their HFEA inspections. The number of embryos used per calendar year cannot be calculated using these records, however, if you wish to look through the information it can be found in the individual centres’ inspection reports, which are published on the HFEA website at http://www.hfera.gov.uk/ . Please note that the HFEA has no statutory obligation to collect data on how many embryos have been used in research projects.

Information for 01/01/2010 – 31/12/2010 supplied by research centres:

 

	No. of embryos
Created for treatment purposes and subsequently donated to and used for research purposes	4930
Created and used for research purposes	117

 There are two points to note regarding this information:

1.       To give context to the number of embryos created for treatment purposes and subsequently donated to and used for research purposes, a total of 236,581 embryos were created for fertility treatment that started in 2006 (an example year for which the figures are readily available).

2.       The information provided covers a 12 month period (01/01/2010 – 31/12/2010), apart for one centre that submitted information relating to a project for the period 01/01/2010 - 29/01/2011 

Page last updated: 16 August 2012

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