Paving the way to future legislation which will affect medical research, the Government’s response to the Report of the Joint Committee on the Human Tissue and Embryos (draft) Bill was published today. The Government has accepted the Committee’s recommendation to drop plans to establish the Regulatory Authority for Tissue and Embryos (RATE) to replace the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) and the Human Tissue Authority (HTA), and the revised Bill will explicitly state that licensing of human-animal hybrid embryos is within the remit of the HFEA, and their creation for research purposes permitted subject to HFEA approval. 

AMRC’s Head of External Relations Dr Sophie Petit-Zeman said:
“AMRC welcomes the Government’s revised position on research using human-animal hybrid embryos and the abandonment of the proposal to merge the HFEA and HTA to form RATE. The decision to allow the HFEA to regulate the creation of inter-species embryos under licence reflects the wishes of patients and scientists and is in line with the evidence submitted by AMRC to the Joint Committee.”

8 October 2007