Human Fertilisation and Embryology

Richard Drax Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd February 2015 Commons Chamber

[Luciana Berger]

I do not believe that that is what is being proposed, but I shall deal with my hon. Friend’s very specific point later in my speech.

[Richard Drax (South Dorset) (Con)]

I know from a meeting that I attended before the debate that the HFEA has said, “PNT involves genetically modifying a human embryo”.

[Luciana Berger]

That point was raised in an earlier intervention. I think it is clear from reports following reviews by the expert panel that it has already been specifically addressed, but I shall deal with it in more detail later.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Miller (Ellesmere Port and Neston) (Lab)]

The hon. Member for Congleton (Fiona Bruce) set out her case clearly and I respect her beliefs, but I do not agree with her conclusions. If we took them to the logical point, we would ban any intervention that introduces some part of one person to another. It would mean boycotting blood and organ transfers, simply because—[Interruption.] I listened with courtesy to the hon. Lady and I hope that my hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South (Robert Flello) will listen to me with courtesy. When these pioneering techniques started, nobody knew the answers for certain. People made judgments—scientific judgments—on the best available evidence, and it turned out that people’s fears were ill-founded.

The trials that have been undertaken on this work have led the scientific community—a powerful group of scientists with an extraordinary degree of knowledge in this area—to conclude that the risks are small but worth taking because the benefits on the other side of the equation are enormous. In all cases where there are risks, we need to consider the risks as against the benefits. I put it to the House that there are potential benefits for the about 2,500 families affected by mitochondrial disease up and down this nation, and they deserve our support. Of course we have to assess the risks, as we do with all risks, but that has to be done in a rational and balanced way.

[Richard Drax]

I am listening carefully to the hon. Gentleman. Everyone in this House wants the best for these families—there is no doubt about that—but it is the speed of the introduction of the regulations that concerns us. As for experimentation, I heard today that no trials are being carried out on primates, which are as close to us as can be. This process has proved successful on mice, but on primates—a standard part of this procedure, apparently—it has not been carried out, and that is interesting.

[Andrew Miller]

The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point, but there are plenty of occasions when such tests are not carried out. In central Africa we have been testing Ebola vaccines without first testing them on primates, because the benefits outweigh the risks. We are in that position already. My hon. Friend the Member for Stoke-on-Trent South referred to research undertaken in China 10 years ago. He rightly said that that work took place, but I put it to Members of this House that the ethical and scientific rigour applied to experimentation in the UK far exceeds anything in China 10 years ago. Indeed, the technologies have also moved on to a very high degree since then.