Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the research, recently published in <i>Nature</i>, into using stem cells to rid organs of mutant mitochondria without recourse to three-parent IVF; and whether it is their policy that human embryos should be destroyed if alternatives are available.

The research by the Centre for Embryonic Cell and Gene Therapy in Oregon, USA, published in Nature, is at a very early stage but may possibly offer hope of health improvement for those who already have a mitochondrial disease. The purpose of the mitochondrial donation treatment, which will be allowable through Regulations from 29 October 2015, is to prevent the transmission of serious mitochondrial disease from mother to child in the first instance.

The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 provides that embryos can only be used in research where the research is necessary and desirable and the use of embryos is necessary. However, that provision does not apply to treatment. Decisions about whether to use eggs or in vitro fertilisation embryos in treatment, including mitochondrial donation, are made according to clinical judgment, if authorised by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority.