Part 1Amendments of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990
Activities governed by the 1990 Act
3Prohibitions in connection with embryos
1
Section 3 of the 1990 Act (prohibitions in connection with embryos) is amended as follows.
2
For subsection (2) substitute—
2
No person shall place in a woman—
a
an embryo other than a permitted embryo (as defined by section 3ZA), or
b
any gametes other than permitted eggs or permitted sperm (as so defined).
3
In subsection (3)—
a
at the end of paragraph (b), insert “
or
”
, and
b
omit paragraph (d) and the word “or” immediately before it.
4
In subsection (4), for “the day when the gametes are mixed” substitute “
the day on which the process of creating the embryo began
”
.
5
After section 3 insert—
3ZAPermitted eggs, permitted sperm and permitted embryos
1
This section has effect for the interpretation of section 3(2).
2
A permitted egg is one—
a
which has been produced by or extracted from the ovaries of a woman, and
b
whose nuclear or mitochondrial DNA has not been altered.
3
Permitted sperm are sperm—
a
which have been produced by or extracted from the testes of a man, and
b
whose nuclear or mitochondrial DNA has not been altered.
4
An embryo is a permitted embryo if—
a
it has been created by the fertilisation of a permitted egg by permitted sperm,
b
no nuclear or mitochondrial DNA of any cell of the embryo has been altered, and
c
no cell has been added to it other than by division of the embryo's own cells.
5
Regulations may provide that—
a
an egg can be a permitted egg, or
b
an embryo can be a permitted embryo,
even though the egg or embryo has had applied to it in prescribed circumstances a prescribed process designed to prevent the transmission of serious mitochondrial disease.
6
In this section—
a
“woman” and “man” include respectively a girl and a boy (from birth), and
b
“prescribed” means prescribed by regulations.
6
The Human Reproductive Cloning Act 2001 (c. 23) (which is superseded by the preceding provisions of this section) ceases to have effect.