Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what his Department's policy is on categorising modification to genomic DNA in mitochondria through pronuclear transfer or maternal spindle transfer as genetic modification.
Answered by George Freeman
The Department decided that, because there is no existing universally agreed definition of genetic modification in humans, it would adopt a working definition. The definition that has been adopted is that genetic modification involves the germ-line modification of nuclear DNA (in the chromosomes) that can be passed on to future generations. We will keep this working definition under review.
The proposed mitochondrial donation techniques do not constitute genetic modification.
Asked by: Jim Dobbin (Labour (Co-op) - Heywood and Middleton)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of changes in the survival rate of babies born before 24 weeks gestation; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Dan Poulter
The latest data published by the Office for National Statistics in October 2013 shows that very few live births occur before 24 weeks gestation. Infant mortality rates for babies born this early remain extremely high. For babies born in 2011, 1 in 1000 of live births occurred at less than 24 weeks; the infant mortality rate for these babies was 894.7 deaths per 1,000 live births.
Data from the Epicure series of studies of survival and later health among babies and young people who were born at extremely low gestations found there was no difference in the ongoing illnesses or complications affecting surviving babies born between 22 and 25 weeks gestation in 1995 and 2006. High levels of disability were present at 6 years of age in surviving children born before 24 weeks, including cerebral palsy, low cognitive scores, mobility problems, blindness or profound hearing loss.