Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Cheryl Gillan Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Cheryl Gillan (Chesham and Amersham) (Con)]

I am most grateful to the hon. Lady for setting out a balanced case. Can she clear something up for me? I understand that there are two sources of mitochondrial disease: the DNA in the nucleus as well as the mitochondrial DNA. Can she confirm that mitochondrial disease from the nuclear DNA will remain in our population even after this treatment is licensed?

[Luciana Berger]

I hope the Minister might be able to address that in her response to the debate, with the support of her officials. It is not something I have been made aware of, and it certainly has not come up in any of the discussions or debates that I have attended.

I will now conclude, as I know that many Members wish to contribute. The research has been done, the reviews carried out and the experts and the public have been consulted. Time is precious for those parents at risk of passing on mitochondrial inherited disease to their children, and I believe that we must not delay any further.

--- Later in debate ---

[Mr Willetts]

It is absolutely true that mitochondria can be inherited through the mother, but it does not change the character of the baby.

Secondly, let me consider the health and safety objection. Sometimes that objection is being used as a cover for what is really an underlying objection in principle. The scientists say, with typical caution and care, that there is no evidence that this is unsafe. It is true that nobody can have 100% certainty about that, but there have been 15 years of research and seven years of scrutiny, including by various scientific bodies and ones promoted under this Government, and so far no one has been able to come up with a concrete and powerful objection that suggests that the process is unsafe. It is right for us today to be considering moving on to the next step.

[Mrs Gillan]

Will my right hon. Friend give way?

[Mr Willetts]

Let me make some progress, as others want to speak.

Thirdly, I hear a rejection on the grounds that we are somehow rushing because we are going to be first. People ask, why us? Why now? Why in Britain? I must say, having had the privilege of serving as the Minister responsible for science, that we are first because we have world-leading research in this area. We should be proud of the fact that it is in British labs and British universities that this fundamental research is happening. It was in our country that the structure of DNA was discovered and I had the privilege of going to the Nobel prize ceremony for Robert Edwards, who won the Nobel prize for his work on IVF, which would properly not have passed through the levels of scrutiny we require of research today.

That brings me to my fourth and final point. What is our role in this Chamber today, faced with this very difficult question? We must make a judgment on whether any ethical issues stand in the way of tackling a clear human need. We are not agreeing that any specific programme of treatment should be licensed or should go ahead. We are very fortunate in this country to have a regulatory structure that is different from that in the US. In the US, if Congress voted for such legislation to go ahead, that would be the end of the matter. If we vote for the regulations today, as I hope that we will, we are saying that the HFEA can decide whether or not to license specific uses of mitochondrial DNA donation after it has assessed all the risks. There is that further safeguard. All we are doing is saying we require it to make that assessment and we are not objecting in principle. My sense of the mood of this House is that there are not many people who object in principle.