Final Report (all chapters)

type of research. The HFEA is required by the HFE Act to ensure that the proposed research
meets any of the following criteria: 107
• It promotes advances in the treatment of infertility
• It increases knowledge about the causes of congenital disease
• It increases knowledge about the causes of miscarriages
• It aims to develop more effective methods of contraception
• It aims at developing methods for detecting gene or chromosomal abnormalities in embryos
• Other such purposes as may be specified in regulations
In November of 2000, following the recommendations of a report by the Chief Medical
Officer’s Expert Advisory Group titled “Stem Cell Research: Medical Progress with
Responsibility,” 108 the Parliament passed new regulations known as the Human Fertilisation and
Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001. 109 The new regulations, effective January
31, 2001, allow the HFEA the grant a research license for the following additional activities:
• Research involving embryos for the purpose of increasing knowledge about the development
of embryos
• Increasing knowledge about the development of disease
• Enabling any such knowledge to be applied in developing treatment for serious disease
These regulations are meant to legalize research cloning – to allow the creation of embryos
by somatic cell nuclear transfer for research purposes. Following the passage of the Human
Fertilisation and Embryology (Research Purposes) Regulations 2001, several members of
Parliament grew concerned that these new regulations would open the door to reproductive
cloning. To prevent this possibility, in the same year, the Parliament explicitly banned human
reproductive cloning. 110
Based on our conversations with HFEA staff, obtaining a license to conduct research on
human embryos is no easy task. For example, the HFEA requires applicants to demonstrate that
their research goals cannot be achieved without sacrificing human embryos. By imposing this
requirement, the HFEA, for all intents and purposes, separates (scientific) means and ends. The
HFEA does not question the ends (the research goals), but it probes whether the means are
commensurate with these goals. The HFE Act also establishes specific rules for appealing a
107
See Art. 3(2).
108
See http://www.dh.gov.uk/AboutUs/MinistersAndDepartmentLeaders/ChiefMedicalOfficer/ProgressOnPolicy/P
rogressBrowsableDocument/fs/en?CONTENT_ID=4108203&MULTIPAGE_ID=5123869&chk=JCM
yhP.
109
See http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2001/20010188.htm.
110
See http://www.opsi.gov.uk/acts/acts2001/20010023.htm.
176