News & Events
Views to be sought by HFEA on egg donation
10 May 2006
The UK fertility watchdog has announced it is to seek professional and public views on whether women should be allowed to donate their eggs for stem cell research into conditions like Motor Neurone Disease.The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA) decided today to hold a full consultation programme into the proposal.
The decision came after researchers into MND and diabetes, in Edinburgh and Newcastle respectively, said they were keen to be allowed to obtain donated eggs for stem cell research into the currently incurable conditions.
Dr Brian Dickie, Director of Research Development at the MND Association, said:
“Motor Neurone Disease kills three people in the UK every day, and stem cell research offers a real opportunity to speed up the search to find a cure.
“The HFEA licence awarded last year to Professors Ian Wilmut and Chris Shaw gives us an opportunity to develop the best model to date for studying human motor neurones in MND and to screen potential treatments. Up to now, the process has been hampered in part by a lack of suitable eggs from which to derive stem cell lines.
“We appreciate that the issue of egg donation raises ethical and practical concerns. But as long as the process is legal, involves informed consent, and the research itself has a sound scientific rationale, we support any such advances that bring us closer to a world free of MND.”
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Notes to editors
In February 2005, the HFEA granted a licence for therapeutic cloning to Prof Ian Wilmut at Edinburgh University and Prof Chris Shaw at King’s College Hospital in London, to enable stem cell research to be carried out into MND.
