Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990

2021 ◽  
pp. 291-298
Author(s):  
Anna Smajdor ◽  
Jonathan Herring ◽  
Robert Wheeler
Keyword(s):  
Human Fertilisation ◽  
Germline Cells ◽  
Definition Of

This chapter covers the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 and includes topics on Activities involving embryos, Prohibition on germline cells, Prohibitions on Storage and Use of Gametes, The Definition of Mother, and Definition of a Father.

Omnis definitio periculosa est: on the Definition of the Term “Embryo” in the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act 1990

2003 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thérèse Callus
Keyword(s):  
Rapid Evolution ◽  
Embryo Research ◽  
Therapeutic Cloning ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Parliamentary Debates ◽  
Human Fertilisation ◽  
The Law ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Court Of Appeal ◽  
Democratic Debate

In adopting a purposive interpretation of the definition of the term “embryo” in the Human Fertilisation & Embryology Act 1990, the Court of Appeal judgement in R (on the application of B. Quintavalle on behalf of Pro-Life Alliance) v. Secretary of State for Health effectively stifled democratic debate on the development of therapeutic cloning techniques. Instead of being evidence of the flexibility of the statute to adapt to the rapid evolution of scientific techniques, the judgment bears witness to a certain dependence of the law on scientific criteria and moreover, raises the question of legitimate judicial function. Indeed, judges should not be seen to be deciding questions of social choice that should ultimately be decided through the democratic process. Although the purposive approach may be objectively justified, it is suggested that the appeal judges erred in their appreciation of the very purpose of the 1990 Act. It is argued that the Parliamentary debates in 1990 illustrate that the purpose of the 1990 Act does not go beyond the area of procreation and embryo research in this context. Consequently, it is claimed that no economy should have been made on a full democratic debate. By preventing such a debate, the Court of Appeal appears to admit that the law has become servile to the scientific, political and a fortiori economic, interests at stake.

The important point here is that no act of fertilisation is involved and it is on this point that the arguments were made. The original Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990 was amended in 2000 so that cloned embryos were covered, but the definition of an embryo, that is a fertilised egg, was not altered. Since a cloned embryo has not undergone fertilisation it is not in fact covered by the Act. So although a contradiction in terms, for the purpose of the law a cloned embryo is not an embryo. The outcome of this was that the High Court decided that the licensing arrangements for embryo cloning did not hold for implantation of cloned embryos. All of a sudden it became apparent that producing an infant from a cloned adult cell was not ruled out. This legislative anomaly was that it should never have been exposed by a court ruling; it should have been dealt with by Parliament long ago. When Dolly the sheep was born in 1997 it was immediately obvious that sex may not be the only way to produce new offspring. In the US, the government quickly took this on board and revised its own definition of an embryo. In the UK, the committee of MPs dealing with science and technology warned the government of the potential problems this definition of an embryo might cause. On Friday, 18 January 2002, the Master of Rolls, Lord Phillips of Worth Matravers, sitting with two other judges, said that an embryo created by cloning did fall within the legal definition of an embryo, even though no fertilisation had taken place. This finally brought human cloning in the UK for medical research into the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990. Whether you agree or disagree with the principles involved there are many questions which are raised. Broadly speaking, there are two types of cloning in use here. One is cloning fertilised embryo cells and the other is cloning of other cells. But what is the difference? If nature can, and does, produce complete individuals from a single cell, then at what point do we say that cloning a cell is tantamount to usurping the position of nature. But it is the very nature of human curiosity to try to understand the world about us, including how it is that we cannot artificially create a viable organism. Put bluntly, if it happens in nature, why can’t we do it? This debate is complicated because identical twins can be seen as clones of each other. Although semantic debates in themselves can be interesting it would at this stage be worth considering what we mean by ‘clone’ and why it results in some very specific grammar. A clone is any group of cells, which includes a complete organism, which derives from a single progenitor cell. So Dolly the sheep is a clone of her mother, cloned from a cell of her mother. Identical twins are clones of each other from an original ovum. So not only do we clone by accident, in the case of identical twins, but for at least the last half century we have been cloning human cells deliberately and this deliberate cloning has been done in the quest for methods of prenatal diagnostics. When foetal cells are removed so that they can be tested for large scale genetic defects, such as Down’s syndrome and other conditions not compatible with life, the cells are routinely grown before the testing is carried out. Each group of cells is a clone of the first one which started dividing, each clone has the entire genetic content of the foetus from which it originated, but no one would suggest that there is sentience or soul present. Many of the samples of cloned cells are then frozen

2013 ◽  
pp. 111-111
Keyword(s):  
Large Scale ◽  
Identical Twins ◽  
Human Fertilisation ◽  
Embryo Cells ◽  
Adult Cell ◽  
A Cell ◽  
The Difference ◽  
The Government ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
The Uk

Introductory paper

1966 ◽  
Vol 24 ◽  
pp. 3-5
Author(s):  
W. W. Morgan
Keyword(s):  
Line Intensity ◽  
Classification Scheme ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Spectral Classification ◽  
Dimensional Array ◽  
Rr Lyrae ◽  
Metallic Line ◽  
Introductory Paper ◽  
Parameter Varying ◽  
Definition Of

1. The definition of “normal” stars in spectral classification changes with time; at the time of the publication of theYerkes Spectral Atlasthe term “normal” was applied to stars whose spectra could be fitted smoothly into a two-dimensional array. Thus, at that time, weak-lined spectra (RR Lyrae and HD 140283) would have been considered peculiar. At the present time we would tend to classify such spectra as “normal”—in a more complicated classification scheme which would have a parameter varying with metallic-line intensity within a specific spectral subdivision.

2.2. Working Group 2: Conceptual Definitions of Reference Coordinate Systems for Earth Dynamics

1975 ◽  
Vol 26 ◽  
pp. 21-26
Keyword(s):  
Coordinate System ◽  
Working Group ◽  
General Character ◽  
Coordinate Systems ◽  
Reference Coordinate System ◽  
Group 2 ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Earth Dynamics

An ideal definition of a reference coordinate system should meet the following general requirements:1. It should be as conceptually simple as possible, so its philosophy is well understood by the users.2. It should imply as few physical assumptions as possible. Wherever they are necessary, such assumptions should be of a very general character and, in particular, they should not be dependent upon astronomical and geophysical detailed theories.3. It should suggest a materialization that is dynamically stable and is accessible to observations with the required accuracy.

Symbiotic Stars at Optical, Infrared and Radio Wavelengths

1979 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 125-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
David A. Allen
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Regime ◽  
Type Star ◽  
Stellar Systems ◽  
Symbiotic Stars ◽  
Lower Excitation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Original Type

No paper of this nature should begin without a definition of symbiotic stars. It was Paul Merrill who, borrowing on his botanical background, coined the termsymbioticto describe apparently single stellar systems which combine the TiO absorption of M giants (temperature regime ≲ 3500 K) with He II emission (temperature regime ≳ 100,000 K). He and Milton Humason had in 1932 first drawn attention to three such stars: AX Per, CI Cyg and RW Hya. At the conclusion of the Mount Wilson Ha emission survey nearly a dozen had been identified, and Z And had become their type star. The numbers slowly grew, as much because the definition widened to include lower-excitation specimens as because new examples of the original type were found. In 1970 Wackerling listed 30; this was the last compendium of symbiotic stars published.

Immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in positively stained frozen sections

1978 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 168-169
Author(s):  
K. T. Tokuyasu
Keyword(s):  
Surface Tension ◽  
Water Surface ◽  
Thin Layers ◽  
The Other ◽  
Positive Staining ◽  
Frozen Sections ◽  
The Past ◽  
Ultrathin Frozen Sections ◽  
Definition Of

During the past investigations of immunoferritin localization of intracellular antigens in ultrathin frozen sections, we found that the degree of negative staining required to delineate u1trastructural details was often too dense for the recognition of ferritin particles. The quality of positive staining of ultrathin frozen sections, on the other hand, has generally been far inferior to that attainable in conventional plastic embedded sections, particularly in the definition of membranes. As we discussed before, a main cause of this difficulty seemed to be the vulnerability of frozen sections to the damaging effects of air-water surface tension at the time of drying of the sections.Indeed, we found that the quality of positive staining is greatly improved when positively stained frozen sections are protected against the effects of surface tension by embedding them in thin layers of mechanically stable materials at the time of drying (unpublished).

Initial Polymerization Sites Indicated During Mitochondrial Oxidation of Diaminobenzidine after Toluene Treatment

1977 ◽  
Vol 35 ◽  
pp. 408-409
Author(s):  
W. A. Shannon ◽  
M. A. Matlib
Keyword(s):  
Membrane Permeability ◽  
Cytochrome Oxidase ◽  
Rat Liver ◽  
Precise Definition ◽  
Cytochemical Localization ◽  
Oxidative Reaction ◽  
Mitochondrial Oxidation ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Exogenous Substrates

Numerous studies have dealt with the cytochemical localization of cytochrome oxidase via cytochrome c. More recent studies have dealt with indicating initial foci of this reaction by altering incubation pH (1) or postosmication procedure (2,3). The following study is an attempt to locate such foci by altering membrane permeability. It is thought that such alterations within the limits of maintaining morphological integrity of the membranes will ease the entry of exogenous substrates resulting in a much quicker oxidation and subsequently a more precise definition of the oxidative reaction.The diaminobenzidine (DAB) method of Seligman et al. (4) was used. Minced pieces of rat liver were incubated for 1 hr following toluene treatment (5,6). Experimental variations consisted of incubating fixed or unfixed tissues treated with toluene and unfixed tissues treated with toluene and subsequently fixed.

Application of Scanning Electron Microscopy to Medical Research

1969 ◽  
Vol 27 ◽  
pp. 12-13
Author(s):  
J. D. Hutchison
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Medical Research ◽  
Prosthetic Heart Valve ◽  
School Of Medicine ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Mechanism Of Failure ◽  
The Brain ◽  
Scanning Electron

When the transmission electron microscope was commercially introduced a few years ago, it was heralded as one of the most significant aids to medical research of the century. It continues to occupy that niche; however, the scanning electron microscope is gaining rapidly in relative importance as it fills the gap between conventional optical microscopy and transmission electron microscopy.IBM Boulder is conducting three major programs in cooperation with the Colorado School of Medicine. These are the study of the mechanism of failure of the prosthetic heart valve, the study of the ultrastructure of lung tissue, and the definition of the function of the cilia of the ventricular ependyma of the brain.

Selection and Preparation of Specific Tissue Regions For Tem Using Large Epoxy-Embedded Blocks

1973 ◽  
Vol 31 ◽  
pp. 324-325 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. M. Lowrie ◽  
W. S. Tyler
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Anatomical Structures ◽  
Ultrastructural Studies ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Microscopic Evaluation ◽  
Embedded Blocks ◽  
Specific Tissue ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
Areas Of Interest ◽  
Selection Of

The importance of examining stained 1 to 2μ plastic sections by light microscopy has long been recognized, both for increased definition of many histologic features and for selection of specimen samples to be used in ultrastructural studies. Selection of specimens with specific orien ation relative to anatomical structures becomes of critical importance in ultrastructural investigations of organs such as the lung. The uantity of blocks necessary to locate special areas of interest by random sampling is large, however, and the method is lacking in precision. Several methods have been described for selection of specific areas for electron microscopy using light microscopic evaluation of paraffin, epoxy-infiltrated, or epoxy-embedded large blocks from which thick sections were cut. Selected areas from these thick sections were subsequently removed and re-embedded or attached to blank precasted blocks and resectioned for transmission electron microscopy (TEM).

Transmission electron microscopy of composite materials

1988 ◽  
Vol 46 ◽  
pp. 1012-1015
Author(s):  
K.P.D. Lagerlof
Keyword(s):  
Composite Materials ◽  
Physical Properties ◽  
Structural Defects ◽  
Structural Composites ◽  
Multiphase Materials ◽  
Structural Reinforcement ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Reinforced Fiber ◽  
Particulate Reinforced Composites ◽  
Definition Of

Although most materials contain more than one phase, and thus are multiphase materials, the definition of composite materials is commonly used to describe those materials containing more than one phase deliberately added to obtain certain desired physical properties. Composite materials are often classified according to their application, i.e. structural composites and electronic composites, but may also be classified according to the type of compounds making up the composite, i.e. metal/ceramic, ceramic/ceramie and metal/semiconductor composites. For structural composites it is also common to refer to the type of structural reinforcement; whisker-reinforced, fiber-reinforced, or particulate reinforced composites [1-4].For all types of composite materials, it is of fundamental importance to understand the relationship between the microstructure and the observed physical properties, and it is therefore vital to properly characterize the microstructure. The interfaces separating the different phases comprising the composite are of particular interest to understand. In structural composites the interface is often the weakest part, where fracture will nucleate, and in electronic composites structural defects at or near the interface will affect the critical electronic properties.

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